A Thorn in My Side
by Singer of Water
Summary: Fred and George Weasley meet two girls on the train going to Hogwarts during their first year. One is a half blood; the other is Muggle born. Watch as their friendship is tested and grows throughout their years together during school and beyond with moments filled with friendship, heartbreak, love, fights, and pranks. Fred/OC and George/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone! For any of you who have read Page Before Beauty's A Thorn in My Side you noticed that it had stopped. Well my friend and I never really had time to continue it so we stopped. I have now decided to start it back up****,**** but with a new character instead of Cassie because my friend doesn't like people using her OCs, and this story I started before we teamed up so I want to put in a new character. So I hope you enjoy this and I hope that I will be able to finish it. I plan to have all the years at Hogwarts, during the war, and a bit beyond the war. Thank you for listening to my rant Now enjoy the first chapter of the new A Thorn in My Side.**

A Thorn in My Side

Chapter 1

"Mum! Dad! Hurry up! I found platforms 9 and 10!" an eleven year old Thorn Fernsby shouted as she pushed her trolley through Kings Cross Station, her brunette hair in a braid swinging with each step. Her green eyes full of excitement, which was growing every minute. Her small brown cat meowed with irritation as the cart was bounced and pushed as the small girl tried to get through the crowd of Muggles.

"Sweet heart don't worry, the train's not leaving until eleven. You've got twenty minutes to get on it," Thorn's dad, Charles Fernsby, said as he and his wife, Lucille Fernsby, walked faster to keep up with their daughter.

"Charles, where's platform 9 and 3/4?" Lucille asked her husband as she looked around platforms 9 and 10. _It must be somewhere near here right?_ the confused Muggle mother thought.

"I'll show you," Charles said with a laugh. He took hold of Thorn's trolley, "Ok Lucille, take the other side."

Lucille did so, placing her hand on the trolley's handle, her daughter next to her looking just as perplexed.

"Ok, now on the count of three we run straight at the pillar," Charles said, smiling.

"What?" Lucille said frantically. "Are you mad Charles?"

"Just trust me on this dear," he said chuckling.

"Ok dad," Thorn said with a huge determined smile plastered on her face.

"One...two...three!"

The three then ran straight towards the pillar with Thorn's mom closing her eyes tightly waiting for the impact of the cart and brick wall, which never came. Instead the small family went straight through the pillar and to the two females' shock, they were on platform 9 and 3/4 with the Hogwarts Express right in front of them, the smoke billowing from its short stack.

"Oh wow! This is brilliant!" Thorn whispered. In awe for a moment, watching all the families bustling about the platform.

"This _is _brilliant," Lucille said, still wearing a stunned expression.

"Alright Thorn, let's get your things on the train," Charles said.

"Okay!" Thorn said as she pushed her trolley a bit too quickly. She suddenly collided with another trolley knocking over her cat's cage and some of the luggage from both trolleys.

"I am so sorry," Thorn apologized as she began picking up their things. "I'm such a klutz."

"No it's alright," a red headed boy said as he knelt down to help her.

"Here, I think this is yours," she said as she handed him a small book on first year spells.

"And this must be yours," he said handing her a box filled with her robes.

"Thanks," she said finally looking up to see a pair of twinkling brown eyes staring at her.

"No problem. You must be a first year, am I right?" he questioned, grinning.

"How'd you know?" Thorn asked trying to hide the blush that was slowly making its way up her neck.

"Well you must be as excited as I am to go to Hogwarts to crash your trolley into mine," the boy laughed, his eyes crinkling with mischief. "I'm a first year myself. Me and my brother are," he said with a grin as another boy who looked exactly like him pushed his trolley over to them. "I'm Fred."

"And I'm George," the other red headed boy said wearing the exact smile that Fred was wearing.

"I'm Thorn," Thorn said smiling back.

"Thorn are you alright?" Thorn's dad said as he hustled over to his daughter.

"I'm fine dad," Thorn said.

"Charles Fernsby," a man said as he came over to stand behind Fred and George. He put out his hand clasping Charles' with a friendly shake.

_He must be Fred and George's dad. He has red hair like them. _Thorn thought.

"Arthur Weasley, I thought I'd see you here," Charles said.

"So this must be Thorn," Mr. Weasley said. "It's nice to meet you. You're father has told me a lot about you. I'm Mr. Weasley."

"Nice to meet you Mr. Weasley," Thorn said politely stealing looks at the twins behind Mr. Weasley. The twins then began to make funny faces stepping in front of each other to get Thorn's attention. Fred pushed his brother down giving Thorn a charming wink before George kicked Fred's legs from under him to send them both falling on the floor. Thorn gave a small laugh, muffling the giggles with her scarf.

"And these must be your boys. They have the Weasley red hair after all," Charles laughed as the two boys sprang from the floor, their father turned around to see them smiling innocently.

"Yes. It's Fred and George's first year," Mr. Weasley said noticing how his sons' clothes were now rumpled and hair mused. He gave them a firm glare, but grinned in spite.

"Thorn's too. Maybe they'll be in the same house."

Thorn smiled at the thought.

"Well we've gotta hurry. Molly's probably wondering where we are. I'll see you at the Ministry Charles," Arthur Weasley said waving goodbye.

"See you Thorn," Fred and George said smiling, waving their hands manically as she gave an amused wave in reply.

"Come on Thorn, let's get your things on the train."

"Okay," she said still watching the three red heads walk away and out of sight in the sea of parents, trolleys, and students.

After they loaded the last of Thorn's luggage onto the train the Fernsbys said their goodbyes. Thorn clutched at her slender cat tearfully feeling stupid for being so sad.

"Goodbye sweetie. I love you and I know you'll have fun," Thorn's mom said giving her daughter a hug. "And you Willow take good care of my little girl okay?" The cat meowed its agreement and the mother gave it an affectionate pet.

"Goodbye mum. I love you too," Thorn said hugging her in return and kissing her on the cheek. "I'll write to you as often as I can."

Next was her dad, who picked her up in a big hug, Willow gave a small growl of disapproval, but didn't resist as she was crushed between the father and daughter. "Have fun sweet heart. And remember, whatever house you're put in, I'll always love you no matter what. Just have fun," he said, giving her a kiss on the forehead before putting her down.

"Even if I'm not put in Gryffindor?" Thorn said nervously.

Charles chuckled, "Even if you're put in Slytherin, for all I care. I love you no matter what. Now hurry up before it leaves."

Thorn hurried onto the train and waved goodbye to her parents until she couldn't see the platform anymore. She stroked Willow a few times to calm herself.

"Now to find a compartment," she said to herself.

She then began her mission to find a compartment she could stay in. It took quite a while, but she finally found one. When she opened the door Thorn found it empty except for someone's belongings. A small owl cage was on the top shelf holding a tiny, tawny pygmy owl who was sleeping.

"Huh. I wonder whose stuff this is," Thorn said. Then an idea dawned on her. Thorn placed Willow on the compartment seat as far from the owl's cage as possible. Then she pulled something out of her pocket. "No one here to stop me from zip tying their luggage."

After zip tying two bags together, Thorn was about to zip tie a third when the compartment opened. She whipped her head around to see a girl with long, blonde hair that reached her shoulders and ice blue eyes that were wide open with what looked to be fear, who looked to be the same age as her.

"What are you doing?" the girl asked, tentatively, looking as if she was debating whether to run.

"I uh...well you see...," Thorn said as the girl stood there with trembling legs before taking a step towards her things

"What are these things you put on my bags?" The girl inspected her bags which sported the bright pink plastic ties now. Her tiny owl, , looked at her then the ties curiously wondering himself what they were.

"Zip ties...," Thorn said cautiously. "Muggles use them to prank their friends. It keeps you from opening bags. I'm sorry, I can get them off your bags!"

The girl's face broke into a small smile, she giggled quietly. "I've seen these before," the girl said. "So your parents are you a Muggle born too?" The girl asked with a shy smile.

Thorn was relieved, "No, my mum's a Muggle, but my dad's a wizard. It was quite a surprise for her when she found out, almost dropped a tea kettle on herself. What about you?"

"Both my parents are Muggles. They were surprised as I was when I got my letter to Hogwarts," the girl said, her voice still a few decibels above a whisper. "But I'm really excited to go," the blonde haired girl said happily, glancing out the window.

"Me too," Thorn said. "I'm Thorn Fernsby," she said holding out her hand.

"Le-Leila Monroe," the girl said shaking Thorn's hand. "It's nice to meet you, Thorn."

Soon the two girls were talking non-stop, Thorn talking most of the time while Leila quietly listened and talked about her life in London as the train kept on its speedy journey. When the snack trolley came by they bought practically the whole cart.

"I _love _licorice wands!" Thorn exclaimed, throwing herself back in her seat, ripping the treat open with her teeth.

"My favorite is the _good _Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, like the peppermint ones!" Leila said, gagging on a grass flavored one, but smiling.

"I know right? The other ones are _disgusting_!"

The two were laughing when their compartment door swung open revealing two red headed boys.

"Wha- hey aren't you the two boys I met on the platform?" Thorn asked smiling. "Sorry about running my trolley into your trolley."

"What?" Leila asked looking from Thorn to the boys with wide frantic eyes.

"Oh, earlier I was running to get on the train and accidentally collided my trolley into his," Thorn explained, pointing to Fred, or at least she thought it was Fred.

"Oh…," Leila said nodding her head.

"Yeah, what's your names again?" Thorn said snapping her fingers as if she was trying to remember. She of course remembered, but it was fun to play dumb with the boys.

"George," the one she had been pointing to said.

"Fred," the other said.

"That's it!" Thorn exclaimed with a small laugh.

"Yeah yeah yeah," George said rolling his eyes knowing she was joking. "Listen if anyone asks, say we were here the whole time," he said rushing to take a seat in the compartment.

"Why?" Leila asked.

"Just promise!" Fred said as he sat by Leila and George took his seat next to Thorn.

"Seriously what did you guys do?" Thorn asked cocking her head, grinning faintly.

Just then a tall boy with red hair, glasses and multiple colors all over his face and front, stood in the door way. "You two!" he pointed to Fred and George.

"What?" they said innocently.

"You two did this to me!" he said gesturing to the colors all over him.

"I don't think that's possible," Thorn said seriously.

"Y-yeah," Leila said, feigning confusion. "They've been here the whole time."

The older boy took a moment and looked at the girls' faces, Thorn's had an innocent smile whereas Leila looked like she was going to be sick, before saying frustrated, "Fine! You guys are off the hook, _this _time."

When he left Fred turned to the girls and said, "Thanks! He would've murdered us this time for sure."

"Slowly murder us," George added.

"N-no problem," Leila said.

"But how did you convince him we were here the whole time?" Fred asked.

"Never under estimate the power of a girl's stare. It has the power of persuasion," Thorn joked.

"Who was that guy and what did you do to him?" Leila asked, still a little flustered from the encounter with the older boy.

"That was our brother, Percy," Fred explained.

"We made his Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans explode when he opened it," George laughed with his brother enjoying their successful prank. They high fived, laughing loudly.

"Oh my, that is brilliant!" Thorn said laughing with them.

As the train rode on the four kids learned more and more about each other. They even discussed some ideas for future pranks, yelling and laughing through the whole ride.

"We better get our robes on," Leila said looking out the window. "We'll be there soon."

"You know Leila, Thorn," Fred said, with Willow curled on his lap petting her reminding Thorn of a cliché evil mastermind. He then looked at the girls then his brother with a small smirk on his face.

"This looks like the start of a brilliant friendship," George said, putting an arm around Leila, grinning.

"Yeah, sure," Leila said, shrinking under his arm. Finally the boys left to find their robes and the girls slipped theirs on, the compartment blinds down. Soon the boys were back with a stack of purple cards in their hands.

"Anyone up for a game of Exploding Snap?" they said expectantly.

"That doesn't sound like fun," Leila said hesitantly watching the cards as if they'd explode any minute.

"It's fun, trust us. Just be careful with your dainty girly hands is all. The cards can be-" George said staring at her.

"-a bit temperamental," Fred finished smirking.

Leila looked around the compartment at the other three looking for a way out of playing a possibly dangerous game. That's when her eyes landed on the window, she sighed a sigh of relief. "Oh uh we're here," she said as the train's whistle went off.

The four first years filed out of the train with the rest of the students. They were then standing in front of a big, tall, bearded man holding a lantern and said in a booming voice, "I'm 'Agrid and I'm the games keeper fer 'Ogwarts. I need all first years ter follow me ter the boats."

The students followed Hagrid and began searching for a boat for themselves. Leila looked around, confused and a bit terrified. She couldn't find anyone she knew, and by anyone she meant the twins or Thorn.

"Leila! Over here!" Thorn said pointing at a boat in front of her. Leila breathed a sigh and walked over to her friend and climbed in with Thorn.

"Oy, Fred look! Leila and Thorn found a boat for all of us!" George said as he and Fred walked over to the girls' boat. "Why thank you ladies." George bowed before hopping in making the vessel shake a moment.

Leila smiled. "I hope I'm put into the same house as you three," she said.

"Same here," George and Fred said, grinning.

The rest of the boat ride was a bit awkward, but mostly silent because of the view of Hogwarts from the lake was enchanting. When they reached their destination they were led inside and up a set of stairs where an elderly woman with white hair in a tight bun awaited them.

"Good evening students. I am Professor McGonagall. Welcome to Hogwarts. Behind me are the doors that lead to the Great Hall where the sorting ceremony will be held shortly. The Sorting Hat will sory you into your respective houses; while you are here your houses will be like your family. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory and spend free time in your house common room. The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has illustrious witches and wizards as its alumni. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule breaking will lost house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a gift whichever house becomes yours. In a few moments when these doors open you will walk into the room behind me in a single line." After she was done she left through the doors.

"Are you excited Thorn?" Fred asked nudging the girl in the arm.

"You bet," Thorn said smiling widely. "What house do you hope to get into?"

"George and I want to get into Gryffindor. Our whole family has been in Gryffindor," Fred said proudly. "What about you?"

"My dad was in Gryffindor when he went to Hogwarts, but I don't care what house I'm put in. Although I really don't want to be put in Slytherin," Thorn said thoughtfully.

"Don't worry only right idiots and trolls get put in Slytherin. Boy I'd be miserable if I was put in there," George said.

"What about you Leila?" Thorn said looking over at Cassie who was glaring at George.

"Anything is fine as long as it's not Slytherin," Leila said.

"Guys!" Thorn said, eyes becoming huge. "The doors are opening!"

The other three turned their attention to the doors that were slowly opening, their adventures were about to begin. All breathed in slowly as the air of Hogwarts entered their lungs changing them from the inside out forever.


	2. Chapter 2

**I am so so so so sorry! I know I haven't updated in about a month, but I hope this makes up for it. Here's chapter 2! I'd like to thank Invisiblegirl3 for my first review!**

Chapter 2

The doors opened to reveal a giant room with four long tables spread evenly in the room and a long table in the front. There were hundreds of students at the tables. The ceiling above them had a sky that looked like the sky outside and floating above the students were candles. The first years filed into the Great Hall looking around them in awe.

"Wow this is so cool," Thorn exclaimed as she tilted her head back to stare at the starry sky.

"I-it's enchanted to look like the night sky…and the weather outside," Leila said, coming up next to Thorn. "But I don't know about rain," Leila added. "I r-read it in Hogwarts a History."

Thorn heard the twins snort causing Leila to blush, who was staring around the Great Hall and anywhere else other than the twins.

"Brilliant!" Thorn whispered, feeling her excitement growing more and more.

The students gathered in the front where Professor McGonagall stood next to a stool with an old looking hat that sat upon it. The children stared at the dusty thing with wonderment and a few gasped when the rip in the brim grew to reveal a mouth and soon the hat began to sing.

Oh you may not think me pretty,

But don't judge on what you see,

I'll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,

Your top hats sleek and tall,

For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat

And I can cap them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head

The Sorting Hat can't see,

So try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor,

Where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring, nerve, and chivalry

Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,

Where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuffs are true

And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,

if you've a ready mind,

Where those of wit and learning,

Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin

You'll make your real friends,

Those cunning folks use any means

To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I'm a Thinking Cap!

At the end of the song the Great Hall erupted in cheers and the hat looked please as well, bowing to the respective tables. The first years stared a moment before clapping as well; Fred and George adding some loud cheering.

When everyone quieted finally, Professor McGonagall spoke, "I will call you up individually. You will sit on this stool and the Sorting Hat will be placed on your head and tell you which house you will be put in, then you will go sit at your designated house's table. The houses are again: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin."

The first years were starting to get anxious. They were fidgeting with their robes and shifting positions as Professor McGonagall unrolled the scroll with the student's names.

"Sarah Andrews," Professor McGonagall announced.

The girl named Sarah walked up and took a seat on the stool. The Sorting Hat was then placed on her head. There was a moment of silence before it shouted out, "HUFFLEPUFF!" The girl hopped off the stool, a large grin on her face as she walked over to the Hufflepuff table who were clapping loudly for their new member.

"You nervous?" Fred whispered to Thorn, as they both watched a mean looking boy be sorted.

"No, why would you think that?" she said trying to smile, she pulled at her black robe nervously.

"Oh I don't know, you're tugging at your robes so I had to guess," he said smirking. Fred nudged Thorn's shoulder with his giving her a smile, "Don't worry. It'll be fine."

"Thanks," Thorn said, smiling.

"SLYTHERIN!" The boy hopped off the chair looking pleased and slightly smug as he walked over to the table.

"Deatheater," Fred mumbled and George and Thorn nodded in agreement while Leila had a puzzled look on her face.

"Thorn Fernsby," Professor McGonagall said. Thorn went rigid at the sound of her name.

"Go on," Fred and George whispered giving her a reassuring push.

Thorn looked back for a second seeing the twins grin and give her a thumbs up and Leila give a small wave before she walked to the front shaking uncontrollably, a million worries going through her head. 'Okay take a deep breath. Remeber what dad said. Even if you're put in Slytherin he will still love you. Ah! But I don't want to be put in Slytherin!' She took her seat and Professor McGonagall placed the Sorting Hat on her head.

She sat there quietly for a moment before she heard a voice in her ear.

"Ah, lots of determination in you. Brave, talented as well. Ah a tough decision. Where to put you," the Sorting Hat said.

'Please, please, please.' she thought squeezing her eyes closed.

"I know exactly where to put you, GRYFFINDOR!" the Sorting Hat declared.

Thorn's face brightened when she heard 'Gryffindor'. She jumped off the stool when Professor McGonagall took the hat off and ran to the Gryffindor table where she was greeted warmly.

More and more first years were sorted into their houses, each just as excited as Thorn was and everyone before her. Then Professor McGonagall called out, "Leila Monroe."

Thorn saw Leila freeze in her spot just as she had done when her name was called and there was fear on her face when she heard her name. She tentatively walked up to the stool and climbed up as Thorn held her breath, waiting for the house to be called.

'Oh I hope Leila's put in Gryffindor.' Thorn thought grinning.

Leila sat on the stool and the Sorting Hat was placed on her head. "Ah nervous I see...but you're a kind hearted person. A smart mind at that too." Leila held her breath awaiting the final decision. "But I can see it would have to be...HUFFLEPUFF!" the Sorting Hat announced.

Leila hopped off and walked, with a little blush on her cheeks, but a smile none the less, over to the Hufflepuff table. Though Thorn noticed even as Leila walked, her eyes looked towards the Gryffindor table for a moment. But Leila was smiling when she sat down at the Hufflepuff table and was greeted by a girl and boy next to her, both first years as well. Thorn sighed sadly.

'Aw it would have been a lot more fun if Leila was in Gryffindor. Ah well, she seems to be happy at least. And there's still Fred and George.' Thorn thought.

After almost all the other students were sorted Professor McGonagall called out, "Fred Weasley."

Thorn turned her attention to the front as she watched Fred run up to the stool. The hat was barely on his head when it shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" and Fred jumped down and ran to the Gryffindor table, taking the seat next to Thorn, and waited for his brother's turn.

"George Weasley."

Like Fred, George ran up to the stool, he on the other hand almost knocked it over causing a few students to giggle and laugh. He just smiled as Professor McGonagall placed the hat on his head and immediately the Sorting Hat cried out, "GRYFFINDOR!" and just as his brother, George ran over to the Gryffindor table taking the seat next to Fred and high fived him. Thorn was overjoyed to have Fred and George in the same house as her.

When the sorting was done Dumbledor stood up to make his announcements. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! I am delighted to see so many eager students tonight. Before we begin the banquet I'd like to say a few words. Firstly, all students are not allowed to go into the Forbidden Forest, if you do you will encounter numerous dangerous creatures and not only will you risk your life, but your house points as well. And finally dunderhead! Twisted! Barrel! Meek! Thank you!"

Thorn was a bit confused, but everyone clapped and cheered as he sat back down in his seat among the other teachers. Suddenly the plates in front of the students were full of various foods.

"Whoa!" Thorn exclaimed as she gawked at the different dishes, candies, and pastries. "This is wicked."

"Want some carrots, Thorn?" George asked handing her a plate full of glazed carrots.

"Sure!" she said taking the plate. "I'm kind of upset Leila wasn't put in Gryffindor with us."

"Yeah, but she seems happy and she's already got some new friends it seems," Fred said, his mouth full of turkey as he peered at the Hufflepuff table behind him.

"But it would have been great if all four of us were in Gryffindor together," Thorn said, waving at Leila, who had caught the three of them looking over at her.

"And it's better than being in Slytherin," George said, as he waved at Leila as well.

"Very true," Thorn said taking a bite of steak.

"Anything's better than a Deatheater," Fred said, his voice getting quieter.

"Of course," Thorn said, as she took another bite of her steak.

"I can't wait to start classes tomorrow," George exclaimed.

"I wonder if Snape is as bad as Charlie says," Fred said, talking through a mouth full of potatoes before swallowing.

"Who?" Thorn asked, taking a sip from her pumpkin juice before getting a piece of bread thrown at her by Fred.

"He's the Potions professor," Fred explained as he dodged Thorn's piece of bread.

George tilted his head to the staff table. "He's the professor in all black and greasy hair. He takes away house points away from the other houses, but his own. That's what Charlie told us," he explained.

"Which house is his?" Thorn asked, peeking around Fred's shoulder at the staff table. Sure enough there was a professor with black robes and greasy hair with almost a scowl on his face.

"Slytherin," Fred and George said, looking over at the said house's table.

"He favors them of course," Fred said. "But he'll take away other houses' house points for the dumbest reasons. Especially Gryffindor."

"He sounds wonderful," Thorn said dryly.

"We've got McGonagall," George said. "Bill and Charlie said she's strict, but fair. She's also the Transfiguration professor."

"Awesome," Thorn said. "She seemed pretty cool. But I guess we'll see tomorrow."

After the banquet was over the students left the Great Hall with full bellies and light chatter. The prefects, on the other hand, were instructed to guide the first years to their houses' common rooms.

"Keep up! And watch out for the stairs. They change at random," Charlie Weasley said. "Fred, George! Stop messing around and keep up!"

The group of first years turned around to see that Fred and George were sneaking away from the group and heading to a classroom until their brother caught them in the act, a green stink bomb in one of their hands. "Aw, way to ruin the fun Charlie," Fred said as he got back in the group with George.

"Nice try you guys," Thorn said with a laugh.

"Like you could do any better," George said with a smirk.

"I can and did," she said casually as they climbed the stairs. Thorn waved at a portrait of Victorian Debutantes, they in returned waved their fans at her cheerfully.

"What do you mean?" Fred asked skeptically before making a face at the portrait, which earned him some glaring from the women.

"When you weren't looking, I stole one of your stink bombs and put it in a classroom," Thorn whispered so no one around them heard.

"You did?!" the twins asked shocked.

"Mhm," she hummed happily.

Fred and George began frantically checking their robes' pockets for their stink bombs. George had his six while Fred had his six. They looked at her with smiles on their faces.

"Hey!" they chorused.

"Got ya," Thorn said with a wink and skipped back over to the others.

The Gryffindor group stopped in front of a giant portrait of a fat lady. She had dark hair in perfect curls and a light pink and white dress, all a Victorian look. The background surrounding her was a beautiful scenery of trees and flowers. Suddenly she began to move and speak.

"Password?"

"Adventurum," the female prefect said.

"Enter." The fat lady swept her arm to the side and the painting moved out towards the group to reveal a hole in the wall.

"Remember that password. If you forget it you will be out of luck until someone else comes along to open the entrance," Charlie explained.

The two led the group throught the portal and into a large room. There was a large fireplace with a roaring fire. There were large comfy chairs and couches that were placed around the fireplace and other places in the room. A few table were placed between the chairs here and there. And underneath the furniture was a large, dark red rug.

"The boys' dormitory is on the right and the girls' dormitory is on the left," The other prefect directed. "You'll find your luggage already in your rooms."

Thorn followed the rest of the girls up to the dormitories as Fred and George followed the boys. She found her room and found her luggage next to a four poster bed while Willow was curled up on the pillow. Thorn looked around the room and saw three other four poster beds with luggage and cages on top. 'I wonder who I'll be rooming with.' she thought.

The bedroom's door then opened and in walked three girls.

"Oh you must be my roommates," Thorn said. "I'm Thorn Fernsby."

"Patricia Simpson," the girl with blonde hair said, pulling her trunk onto her bed.

"I'm Angelina Johnson," the dark skinned girl said.

"And I'm Alicia Spinnet," the dark haired girl said.

"Nice to meet you."

The other girls responded with their own polite replies as they all went about unloading their robes and school supplies. Soon though all of them succumbed to their long day and full bellies and began to get dressed for bed.

"I can't wait until tomorrow," Thorn said as she put on her pajamas.

"Same here," Alicia said as she also changed into her pajamas.

"This will be great," Patricia said as she climbed into bed.

"Well good night guys," Angelina said turning off the lights.

"Good night," Thorn said laying down. 'I hope Leila's alright.' she thought before her eye lids closed.

ooOOoo

Leila felt as if she was going to faint after the Sorting Hat yelled out 'Hufflepuff'. Absently she looked over to the Gryffindor table and saw Thorn looking at her with a disappointed face which changed quickly to a smile as she gave her a thumbs up. Leila inhaled slowly and sat down feeling a bit lightheaded.

"Hello," the first year girl opposite her said cheerfully. "I'm Jacqueline White."

Leila looked startled at first but she gave the red haired girl a small smile. "H-hi, I'm Leila Monroe," she mumbled, smiling shyly.

"Are you excited for our first year at Hogwarts?" she asked smiling widely as she watched the next first year be sorted. "I'm glad I'm in Hufflepuff. I hear we're the nicest house." She winked and laughed. "Yeah, Slytherin's full of jerks and prats, Ravenclaw's full of know-it-alls, and Gryffindor, they're cool, although a bit hot headed maybe…"

"Oh…really? That's good. Uh about our house I mean…," Leila added quickly. She was relieved to know that this would be the house perfect for her. No people to be rude or have high expectations on getting good grades in every class.

"I'm pretty excited to take Potions, although from what I've heard about Professor Snape I won't enjoy him as my teacher. But I wish first years were able to play Quidditch," a boy next to Leila said. She noticed he had dark hair that was kept neat as neat as an eleven year old boy could keep it, dark eyes, and some handsome features on his face. "I'm Cedric Diggory by the way," he said smiling to both girls.

"Hey, I'm Jacqueline White," Jacqueline greeted.

"Le-Leila Monroe," Leila said with a smile.

"What are you? I'm a pure blood."

"Pure blood as well."

"Muggle born."

"Really? Fascinating," he said with a twinkle in his eye. "How did you and your folks react to the news that you were a witch?"

"W-well it was a big surprise really," Leila began, trying to remember the day she got her acceptance letter. "My parents thought it was some sort of, um, prank a kid from school sent to me to further...bully me..., but then we realized it had to be the explanation to all the weird things I had been doing for the past year."

"And now I'm pretty sure you're excited to be a witch. I mean you get to go to Hogwarts," Jacqueline said. Leila nodded.

Soon the sorting ceremony was done and the feast began and the three ate to their hearts content as they listened to older students telling them the dos and don'ts of Hogwarts and which teachers they preferred. Eventually the feast ended, to Jacqueline's dismay, and the Hufflepuff prefects lead the first years to the common room.

The first years were lead to a group of stacked barrels somewhere by the kitchen. One of the prefects took out their wand and tapped one of the barrels. They opened up to reveal a passage way, which the Hufflepuffs were lead through. Inside was a large open room that was full of puffy arm chairs and plush couches. Almost everything in the room was yellow: yellow pillows, yellow arm chairs, and yellow hangings. On each side of the group, in the walls, were giant holes that looked to be tunnels leading to somewhere. Off to the right, up against a wall, was a small sitting area with a fire roaring in the yellow stoned fireplace.

"Now," the prefect spoke up. "To get into the common room you have to tap the barrel two from the bottom in the middle of the second row. You must tap it in the rhythm of Helga Hufflepuff. If you don't get the rhythm correct or tap the wrong barrel you will be treated like any intruder, doused in vinegar," he explained, getting worried looks from most of the first years.

The second prefect pointed to her left, "Boys' dormitory is through that tunnel." She pointed to her right, "Girls' dormitory is through the tunnel on the right. Get some sleep."

"Night Jacqueline, night Leila," Cedric said as he made his way to the boys' dormitory with the rest of the first year boys.

"Night Cedric," Jacqueline called as she and Leila followed the girls. "I already love that I'm a Hufflepuff. This common room is so cool!" she said to Leila with a wide smile.

"It is," Leila said, looking around in awe. "I like the tunnels. They're nothing I would've expected in a room," she said as the two girls walked into the girls' dormitory to find four beds, two already claimed by two sleeping first year girls.

"I know. It's so cool," Jacqueline said as she climbed into her own four poster bed. "Well, good night, Leila," she said with a yawn. "Tomorrow is the start of our first year at Hogwarts."

"Good night," Leila said quietly as she heard the heavy breathing of her roommate before she fell asleep as well.

ooOOoo

"Thorn get up!"

A pillow came in contact with Thorn's head. She waved her hand, shooing whoever it was that was disturbing her sleep. "Mmm, go away. Five more minutes," she mumbled.

"Thorn. Get. Up. Now," the person said, hitting the pillow on Thorn's head with each word.

"Let me sleep!" Thorn yelled, sitting up in bed. She was now face to face with her attacker: Angelina.

"Angelina?" Thorn said, rubbing her eyes of their sleep. "Why?" she said, exasperatedly as she flopped back onto her pillow, burying her face in it.

"It's our first day, duh. Now come on, let's head down to breakfast, I'm starving," Angelina said, pulling Thorn's blanket off of her.

"Fine," Thorn groaned as she climbed out of bed and got dressed.

"I'm so excited! Our first year at Hogwarts! I wonder what classes we'll be getting..." Angelina said thoughtfully as Thorn braided her hair.

Thorn smiled as she thought of all the possible classes they would be taking and what they would be learning. "I'm excited for Transfiguration. My dad said that was his favorite class. You get to turn animals into objects," she said as she finished braiding her hair. "Let's head down to the Great Hall. I'm hungry."

"Finally," Angelina said.

The two girls walked down the stairs together chatting about what classes they hope to be taking and hoping to be taking together when they heard someone exclaimed, "Good morning, ladies."

The girls stopped talking to see Fred and George, fully dressed in their robes, standing at the foot of the stairs to the girls' dormitory. Their mouths turned up into wide smiles and their hair still rumpled from bed.

"Hello," Angelina greeted. "Who are you two?" she asked curiously.

The twins grinned and did dramatic bows making Thorn roll her eyes. "We are Gred" George said

"And Forge," Fred finished.

Angelina stared at them confused as Thorn laughed. "Ignore them," she said dismissively. "They're Fred and George," she explained.

"Oh," Angelina said, her mouth in the shape of an 'o'.

"Ready for breakfast?" Thorn asked the two gingers.

"Of course," Fred said linking arms with her as George linked arms with him and Angelina. "Shall we?"

Thorn giggled. "Lead the way."

The four walked together to breakfast, arms still linked while they animatedly about the classes they would be taking. The twins at one point left the girls as they ran down a hall calling out towards a boy at the other end.

They took a seat at the Gryffindor table and began piling their plates with different breakfast food. Thorn was eating some toast when Alicia sat down between her and Angelina.

"Hey guys. You excited about our first day?" she asked.

"You bet! When are we getting our schedules?"

"In a few minutes," Alicia said pointing out Professor McGonagall. "I see Professor McGonagall handing out the Hufflepuff's schedules."

"Hello ladies!" George said taking a seat next to Alicia. Fred taking a seat next to Thorn and a boy with dark skin and dreadlocks sat next to Angelina. "I'm George Weasley and this is my brother Fred," George introduced himself and his brother to Alicia.

"I'm Lee Jordan," the boy with dreadlocks said.

The girls all smiled introducing themselves as well.

"Glad to meet ya," Fred said smiling. "Hey Thorn what happened to have you seen Leila yet?"

"Yeah we want to know what her schedule is. We saw McGonagall passing out the Hufflepuff schedules," George said, a smile crossing his features as he tries to spot the blonde girl at the table next to theirs.

"Nope, haven't seen her yet," Thorn said looking down at her plate before piling it on with some eggs. "But I hope we have some classes together."

"Ms. Johnson, Mr. Jordan, Ms. Spinnet, Ms. Fernsby, Mr. Weasley, Mr. Weasley," Professor McGonagall said handing the group their schedules.

"Oh look! I have Potions with Hufflepuff first!" Thorn said brightening up.

"Us too!" Fred and George said.

"Same here!" Lee said.

"Me too!" Alicia and Angelina said..

Thorn got out of her seat and ran over to the Hufflepuff table. "Leila! I have Potions with Hufflepuff first. What about you?" she said excited.

"Same," Leila said looking at her schedule.

"Fred and George do too," Thorn said cautiously.

"Great," Leila said smiling, glad to know that she at least had a class with the three.

"Let's go! I don't want to be late!" Thorn said grabbing Leila's hand. The two ran out of the Great Hall leaving the twins behind.

"Oy! Wait for us!" they called running after them.

ooOOoo

At Potions the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws sat two at a table chatting away while they waited for the teacher. Fred and George sat together, their table behind Thorn's and Angelina's. To the side of them were Leila and Cedric and on their other side were Lee and Alicia. Next to them was Jacqueline and the Sarah Andrews, who was the first girl sorted and was talking to the Hufflepuffs behind her. At every table were different ingredients, vials, and two cauldrons.

Thorn was talking to Leila and Cedric when she felf something hit her in the back of the head. "What the...," she said as she took a horned slug out of her braid. She turned around to see George, or was it Fred, with their arm extended and a shocked face on both of them.

"It was him!" they both said pointing at the other one.

Thorn rolled her eyes and went back to talking. A minute later the classroom's door opened and in walked a man dressed in all black with a long nose and long, greasy black hair. He went to his desk and began taking roll call. After he was done he placed the sheet for roll call on his desk and turned to the class. He spoke in a bored and drawn out tone.

"I am Professor Snape. I am here to teach you about the science and art of potion-making. Many of you will think this is hardly any magic as there is no use for your wands here. I don't expect you to understand the wonder of the melodic bubbling of a cauldron or the quiet brilliance of a potion as it creeps through your body. I can teach you- Mr. and Mr. Weasley! Stop horsing around and pay attention!"

Everyone turned to look at the twin red heads who were playing with the ingredients on their table. They slowly put everything down and turned their attention to Snape. Angelina rolled her eyes at Thorn, who smirked at her in turn.

Snape continued, "Today you will be brewing me a Boil Cure Potion. I hope it won't be too difficult for your small, pitiful minds." He turned back to his desk and the students began their work.

"Will this be easy?" Leila asked Cedric as she looked at the instructions in her book. None of it made sense and the ingredients sounded like things that witches made in fairy tales. 'Duh...' Leila thought, mentally slapping her head.

"Don't worry, its like cooking," Thorn said as she poured her flobberworm mucus into her cauldron. "You just gotta follow the instructions.

"Yeah, I got bored by the end of the summer and read this textbook. This potion is really simple compared to the others we will have to learn," Cedric said, already mixing her crushed snake fangs into his cauldron. "Thorn, you said you are a half blood, right? What do you do during your summers with your mum?"

"Me?" Thorn said, putting her hand to her chin as she thought about the question. "I went to the beach with my mum and dad."

"The beach!" Cedric said, a wide smile on his face. "Really? I've never been to one. Although I think I went once when I was younger. Don't remember much though. What was it like?

"It was beautiful the first few days and it began to rain by the end of the trip, but we had a lovely time anyway. Brilliant really," Thorn said fondly, remembering her dad having to charm all their clothes dry when they got home.

"And what, might I ask, is brilliant Ms. Fernsby?" Snape asked, standing behind her and Angelina.

"How brilliant this class is Professor," Thorn said, thinking on her feet and choosing her words carefully. She received a pointed look before he walked away, mumbling something about Gryffindors not working properly.

"That was close," Angelina said smiling.

"Oh my," Leila exclaimed.

"What?" Lee and Alicia asked.

"Fred and George," Leila said, looking over at the twins in horror.

Thorn turned to where Leila was looking. She saw Fred and George laughing to themselves as they fooled with their ingredients again, squishing a few of the horned slugs up and mixing them into their cauldrons; spilling some onto the table. "You guys are idiots," Thorn whispered to them.

"What are you talking about?" George asked with a smirk.

"We are working very hard for your information," Fred said, also smirking.

"Oh yeah," Jacqueline said with a smirk. "What step are you on in the instructions?"

Fred and George looked at each other then grabbed their potions book. They all laughed, knowing the twins didn't know what step they were on.

"Uh...," Fred stuttered.

"Step..." George searched the page.

"Step 4?" they said uncertain.

"Oh yeah, that's working hard," Thorn said. "I'm on step 7."

"And I'm almost done. Two more steps and my potion's done, I think," Cedric said, looking at his potion as it turned from a pink to orange.

Fred and George looked in their cauldrons and saw their potions were far from any color of the rainbow. Their potions had turned into a horrid shade of brown. They looked at each other exchanging looks that said 'We failed'. They shrugged and began throwing the rest of their horned slugs at each other. A few hitting the other six on the head.

"Can you please stop?" Leila asked quietly as she and the others picked the slime covered slugs out of their hair. Lee just laughed, even throwing some back at them.

"What is going on over here?" Snape asked looking at the four tables. He saw the Weasley twins' mess of a table and the slugs on the other six kids. "If you two have time to distract your classmates, you should have time to complete your assignment."

"We would, Professor," Fred began.

"But these slugs were just begging to learn how to fly," George finished.

The two chuckled at their joke while Angelina and Thorn shook their heads. Leila turned away, not wanting to get involved as Jacqueline chuckled at the joke.

"Ten points from Gryffindor. Each," Snape sneered.

"What?!" the boys said.

"You've gotta be kidding!" George said shocked.

"Another ten points from Gryffindor," Snape said.

"But-"

"I suggest you quit before you risk more points being taken from your house," Snape warned.

The twins turned back to their cauldrons, anger showing on their faces. Snape turned to Leila and Cedric's table and examined their cauldrons. "Well done Ms. Monroe, you've gotten your boil cure potions to turn an excellent shade of pink. Twenty points for Hufflepuff for being the first in the class to complete the assignment."

After Potions was Charms for Leila, Jacqueline, and Cedric while it was Transfiguration for Thorn, Fred, and George. Leila said her byes and walked down the hall to her next class with Cedric and Jacqueline, leaving Thorn with the two prankster red heads.

"Onto Transfiguration, Ms. Fernsby," George said, holding out his arm to her.

"Allow us to be your escorts," Fred said on her other side, also holding out his arm.

"Why thank you, Mr. and Mr. Weasley," Thorn said linking her arms with theirs.

The rest of the day went on with the same thing happening during each class. Fred and George goofed around, occassionally losing house points while Thorn, Angelina, Alicia, and Lee earned them back. Lee, however, was great friends with Fred and George, which made him also lose house points.

Lunch was their free time and their time to goof off without having to worry about losing house points. Angelina and Alicia talked about Quidditch, Fred and George joining in here and there. Fred, George, and Lee talked about plans for pranks they wanted to do. Thorn talked with the girls about Quidditch and occassionally with the boys with some input of her own ideas for pranks. Finally the day ended with dinner and the group of friends talked about their day, classes, teachers, and how much homework they were given.

"Ugh! Snape gave us a stupid essay on a potion of our choice. Three feet," Lee complained. "Why?"

"Professor Flitwick gave us a list of charms we need to be able to do by next Monday," Alicia said, taking a bite of potatoes.

"It's the first day. Why do they give us so much homework?" Fred said stabbing at his steak with his fork.

"I don't know how we'll find the time to do our homework and plan our pranks," George said leaning his cheek on his fist.

"Well I don't know about you two, but I'm heading to the common room to get a head start on my homework," Thorn said, getting up from the table. She said her goodbyes and walked to the common room.

"Thorn wait up."

Thorn turned around to see Leila running towards her. "Hey, Leila. How was your first day?"

"It was interesting. I learned so much. It's really interesting to think this is what witches and wizards learn unlike what I've read in stories. I liked Charms the most," Leila said with a larger smile than what she usually makes. They talked until they reached the Gryffindor common room.

"Hey, want to see Gryffindor's common?" Thorn asked before walking up to the Fat Lady.

"B-bu-but isn't that against the rules?" Leila asked, a look of worry on her face.

"Yeah, but I've heard people do it a lot of times," Thorn said. "Cover your ears. You can't hear the password."

"Password?" the Fat Lady asked as the two walked up, giving Leila a weird look as she had her hands over her ears.

"Adventurum," Thorn said clearly.

"Enter."

"Come on," Thorn said grabbing Leila's hand.

For twenty minutes the girls worked on their homework around the comforting heat of the fire. Leila was working on her Potions essay while Thorn hummed and doodled on the edges of her paper. Around eight thirty the common room portal opened and in strolled none other than Fred and George Weasley, accompanied by Lee, Alicia, and Angelina.

"Evening Thorn. Evening Leila," Lee said walking past the two. He stopped mid step, spun himself around and stared dumbfounded at Leila making the blonde blush from the stares the group gave her. "What are you doing in here?"

"He's right. This is Gryffindor's common room," Angelina said, sitting down in one of the chairs.

"And you're a Hufflepuff," Alicia said, pushing the still confused Lee to a couch.

"I invited her in," Thorn said with a smile.

"So what are you two doing?" Fred asked as he sat next to Leila, who was looking through her Potions book for more information for her essay.

"Finishing some homework," Thorn said as George sat between her and Fred. She flipped onto her stomach so that her legs were in the air, swinging as she stared intently at her doodle, trying to get the owl's eyes to look just right.

"Homework? But you're just drawing an owl," George commented, looking at her paper.

"I-I think she's almost done though," Leila said quietly, picking her things up. "I'm um going now. I don't want to get in trouble for not being in the Hufflepuff common room this late." And with that she walked out of the common room with a wave and a goodnight.

"Well I'm tired," Thorn said sitting up and stretching out her arms as Angelina and Alicia started heading up the stairs to the girls' dormitory. "I'm heading up. Good night boys."

"Good night," the three males said as the four girls went up to the girl's dormitory, bringing their first day at Hogwarts to an end.

**Hope you liked it. Please leave a review.**

**The Sorting Hat song is not mine (and if you recognize it then of course you'd know that haha) it's from the first Harry Potter book. Originally when I was writing this story with someone else for our account Page Before Beauty she had written a whole new song, but me, being the non-poetic person I am couldn't think of one of my own and I know my old co-author doesn't like people using her written work or characters (Leila is a new character I came up with when I took out my co-author's OC) so I took it out and decided to stick with the original Sorting Hat song that J.K. Rowling had written.**

**Also again, so sorry for the late update, after I had posted chapter 1 during my winter break the screen on my mom's laptop broke and she had to send it away to get fixed. It came back four weeks for it to be returned. Then my whole winter guard schedule is insane. Monday and Tuesday 6-9; Thursday 6:30-9. I barely have a social life. Then Saturday was my birthday and I spent it at a winter guard competition (best birthday I have to say haha) and I wanted to finish typing this chapter that night, but my mom wanted me to go to bed. Then Sunday I tried to type, but had family come over for a bday part. And Monday I had 12-9 guard practice. Basically my whole weekend but Sunday was filled with guard. However, I can't believe I never thought of this but I was able to finish this chapter by sending it in an email and copying it in my notes on my iTouch and work on it during the most useless class I have: reck games.**

**Also, I want to thank dontstopbelieving123 for creating the beautiful photo for the story!**

**I now have a tumblr page for A Thorn in My Side so if you want to ask me or the characters any questions feel free :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Here is chapter 3. I'd like to thank ivisiblegirl3 and dontstopbelieving123 for their reviews. Thank you Invisiblegirl3 for pointing out my misspelling of Professor McGonagall's name. i was able to go back fix that in the last chapter. Thanks again! Enjoy chapter 3!**

Chapter 3

Days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into a month. The time at Hogwarts flew by quickly. Thorn and Leila became best friends as they learned more about the other. Fred and George, along with their new best mate Lee Jordan, showed them pranks they invented while Thorn tried to upstage them with her own pranks. Eventually it turned into a contest to see who's pranks were better.

Once, Fred and George had learned a jinx from Charlie and jinxed Thorn's books to spit out its pages when she opened it. Another time they made of Leila's quills explode in her face. That didn't go over so well as she turned crimson and hid in her room, afraid to see show her ink covered face. Those pranks resulted in Thorn putting a stink bomb in their room and jinxing their trunks to throw everything out of them every time they put something in them.

The day was Halloween which thankfully fell on a Saturday. It was in the early afternoon, Thorn and Leila were walking through the halls just chatting as they headed to the court yard to sit in the cool weather.

"Hey Leila, I've been wondering. How come you don't like to help me prank Fred and George?" Thorn said as they walked past the pumpkin decorations the huge gameskeeper was setting up.

"Because I-I don't want to cause any trouble or worse get caught by a teacher," Leila answered quietly. "I also don't want Fred and George to not like me because of a um prank."

"That does make sense, but you're missing out on the fun," Thorn said giving Leila a wink.

"Thorn! Leila!"

The girls turned around to see Fred, George, and Lee running down the hall, full speed, towards them. Fred had an old looking piece of paper in his hand. All three boys had large smiles on their faces.

"You won't believe what they found," Lee panted when they reached the girls. "It's amazing!"

"What?" Leila asked, a little intrigued on what could have brought one of the largest grins she's seen on all three boys.

"This!" George said, pointing at the piece of paper Fred was holding out for them to see.

Thorn and Leila stared down at it confused.

"An old piece of paper?" Leila said, taking a small step back, thinking it would squirt something in her face.

"Watch this," Fred said. He took out his wand and touched the tip to the paper. "I solemnly swear I am u to no good."

"When are you ever up to good?" Thorn joked.

"Just watch," George said as he grinned down at the paper.

To their amazement, words began to fade in on the paper in red ink.

"The Marauder's Map?" Thorn said. "What is it?"

Fred opened it up and on the inside was a huge map of Hogwarts. "It shows you everything!" Lee exclaimed. He pointed to a spot on the map. "There are secret passageways no one's ever seen or heard of before."

"And here's the best part," Fred said pointing to another spot on the map. There were five pairs of foot prints at the spot with all their names underneath them. "It tells you where everyone is in the castle! See there's Professor Flitwick and here's Professor McGonagall."

"This is so cool!" Thorn exclaimed, her face broken out in a huge smile. She examined the map even closer, enchanted by it. "Where did you get this?"

"Filch's office," George said. "He caught us putting an exploding pumpkin in the girls' bathroom on the second floor."

"It's brilliant!" Lee shouted.

"Of course, at first we had no idea what it was," George said.

Fred nodded. "None at all. But when Filch left we noticed a drawer that said 'Confiscated and Highly Dangerous'-"

"And there it was. Although at first it looked like parchment, but when me and Fred started talking about maybe setting it on fire-"

"What?!" Leila shrieked now looking at the paper in horror truly believing it would explode.

"We're fooling with the idea of exam sheets that double as fireworks," Fred explained patiently.

George plowed on as if nothing had happened. "The lettering showed up. Welcoming us as Marauders and giving instructions on how to use it! All you do to make the map disappear is say 'Mischief Managed' and poof it's all gone!" George looked so excited that Leila wondered if his face could actually turn so red to match his hair.

"Think of how easy it will be getting around school," Thorn said smiling, ideas already popping into her head. "All the pranks we could pull."

"That's the idea," Fred said, winking.

"Hey look who's coming our way," Lee said, pointing at the map.

The other four looked down at the Marauder's Map and saw Percy's footprints making their way down the hall.

"Hey it's your brother," Thorn said, looking down at the map then up at the corner he was coming from.

Percy then came into view of the group and stopped. "What are you all doing huddled together in the hall?" he asked in a serious tone.

"Hey look Freddie. It's our dear brother Percival," George said with a grin.

"You're right Georgie," Fred said, the same grin on his face. "What's up Perc?"

"Percy if you please," Percy said giving his brothers a glare.

"What is the matter, Percy?" Fred asked as he gave his older brother a mocked dignified smile.

"Nothing, I happened to be walking down the hall you're in. Although I am interested in what you five were crowding around for," he said raising an eyebrow looking over at the group suspiciously.

"It's just some notes," George said shrugging. "Nothing interesting."

Percy now became further interested. The other two first years looked at each other worriedly as the twins talked to their brother.

"On what?" he asked, pressing the matter.

"We were planning on reviewing some Charms notes with Thorn and Lee," George said.

"Like the good students we are," Fred finished, having an identical innocent smile on his face as his twin.

"What are they doing?" Thorn whispered to Lee seeing how Percy's face became

"Show me," Percy demanded. "I highly doubt it's just notes. It's probably one of your ideas for more trouble."

The twins looked at each other with worried expressions, trying I figure out what to do. Thorn quickly pulled them back to her side and took the map from Fred's hand.

"Okay," Thorn said as she walked up to Percy. She quickly whispered something before handing over the Marauder's Map with a friendly smile.

Percy took it, examining the old paper. His brow furrowed. He opened it up to further analyze it only to thrust it into George's hands. "Childish, very childish. I knew you two were up to no good. I better not find that you two have caused this. If you do I will report to Mum." With that said, he walked away in a huff.

The twins and Lee were confused as they watched Percy leave.

"Bu-but the map...," Leila whispered. "Why didn't he take it. I-is he going to report it to Professor Dumbledor?"

The twins and Lee paled at the thought of Dumbledor finding out that they had stolen something from Filch's office, even more so to the fact that it's a map of Hogwarts. they stared aghast at Thorn as she came walking over to them.

"Why did you show him the map?" George demanded looking both stunned and hurt.

"Are you trying to get us in trouble?" Lee asked.

"And why did he just walk away? Didn't he see what it was?" Fred asked.

"I wasn't about to let you guys get in trouble. I quickly whispered Mischief Managed before handing it over to your brother. Look at what it turned into though." Thorn smiled and handed George the map, which looked to be a set of notes on how to charm a toilet to spit water at anyone who stepped in front of it. The twins burst out laughing before the notes disappeared revealing just plain parchment once more.

"That's amazing!" Lee said. "You're brilliant, Thorn!" he exclaimed, high giving the brunette.

"Yes, yes," Fred said looking fairly impressed. "How about we spend our free day searching for these secret passageways."

"Let's do it!" Thorn, George, and Lee said, fist pumping.

"I-I-I'm not, I d-don't want to get in trouble," Leila said quickly.

"Come on, Leila," Thorn whined. "It will be fun. Don't you want to be one of the few people who know about these secret passageways?"

Leila shook her head. "I don't want to be e-expelled if we aren't supposed to be in those passageways" She began to fiddle with the hem of her sleeve as she tried to avoid Thorn's pleading stare and the boys' grins. "M-maybe another time...," she murmured.

"Yes!" Thorn exclaimed as she hugged Leila.

"How about tonight?" George said, an evil glint flashing in his eyes.

"Why?" Thorn asked.

"Tonight's All Hallows Eve and we plan on causing some mischief and putting some stink bombs and maybe some other things in Snape's office," Fred said, snickering.

"Really?" Thorn said. "Oh I can't miss out on that!"

"Then it's settled. Tonight we will sneak out of our rooms," Fred said, as Lee and George high fived.

"Hey how about for now, we give our dear brother a makeover? It could be his costume for the day," George said, an evil grin on his face.

"I like that idea," Fred said, the same evil look as George on his face.

"What did you guys have in mind?" Lee asked, smiling.

_Oh no._ Thorn thought. _This won't be good. Or end well for that matter._

"I was thinking we put some pretty bows in his hair," George said, grinning evilly.

"Do you have any idea what will happen when he finds out you guys put bows in his hair?" Thorn said.

"If he finds out we did it," Fred said with a wink.

"Whatever, I don't want any part in that prank," Thorn said holding her hands up.

"Fine," George said.

"But you'll miss all the fun," the twins said standing on each side of Thorn and grabbed her arms.

"Come on let's go," Lee said as he led the way down the hall.

"Onward!" the three said, as the twins dragged Thorn with them.

Thorn blinked confused, "I thought we were looking for the secret passageways," she shouted, struggling to get out of their grasp on her.

ooOOoo

It wasn't long into the school year that Leila decided that she would be spending her time in the library or the Hufflepuff common room. She, along with Jacqueline and Cedric, liked the common room, seeing as she was a Hufflepuff of course, but that it was a good place to just sit and talk. But today she was meeting the two in the library.

She loved the library at Hogwarts, it was one of the largest libraries she had seen. She loved to read and with all the books in it and so many new subjects, she could read up on subjects from the Wizarding world. Not only that, but it was a good quiet place to study and chat quietly with Jacqueline and Cedric.

Leila walked in and immediately picked out her friends, who were sitting near the section on History of Magic with a small stack in the middle of them. In a large arm chair was Jacqueline, who was lying across the arms of the chair. Then there was Cedric sitting in another arm chair with a book in his lap and quill scribbling on a piece of parchment.

"Hey there stranger," Jacqueline greeted, sitting upright in the chair.

"Hello," Leila said with a smile.

"Are you excited about the Halloween feast tonight?" Cedric asked, still scribbling on his parchment. "Jacqueline and I were just talking about it.

"Yes. I think I heard that Professor Dumbledor might be getting some entertainment," Leila said with a smile. "I-I'm not entirely sure though."

"No, I heard Gabriel Truman talking about it with some others in the common room earlier," Jacqueline said, putting down her book.

"What did I say?" Gabriel said as he poked his head around the corner causing Leila to let out a small shriek in surprise. He strolled over to the three first years with Penelope Clearwater, a Ravenclaw student, and the two took a seat between Cedric and Jacqueline.

"Hello, Gabriel," Cedric said.

"So what were you three talking about me for?" the third year asked as he picked up a book from the little stack on the table next to Cedric.

"How you were talking about Dumbledor getting entertainment for the feast tonight," Jacqueline said.

"Oh right," Gabriel said. "I heard rumors. I'm not entirely certain."

"Well you rely on rumors more than you should," Penelope teased, peeking over his shoulder to see why he was reading.

"We can't all live on straight facts, Penny. Rumor has it that you are in line for Prefect like me," Gabriel said, grinning.

"Nothing has been announced. It won't be decided until I'm in my sixth year. That's a while away, you know that," Penelope said primly. It was no use denying though, Leila had heard that Gabriel and Penelope had the best grades in the third year for Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw and were favorites of all the teachers. They'd be appointed Prefect for sure.

"I-I hear Fred and George's older brother...Percy is um trying to be uh Prefect too...," Leila said recalling the twins' disgust at the prospect of having another Prefect for a brother. From what she heard Charlie was already set up to be head boy next year.

"Those Gryffindors always rushing things. He might get it, but like I said it's not for a while. Now if you don't mind I have to go," Penelope swept up her bag.

"You're leaving to hang out with Percy aren't you?" Gabriel said, not looking up from his book.

Penelope didn't respond, but her blushing was response enough. Leila and Jacqueline giggled as she stomped out of the library. Gabriel looked up noticing she was gone.

"Was it something I said, you think?" Gabriel asked, smirking evilly as his fellow third year walked out of the library.

"No I'm sure Penelope just loved that you pointed out her secret crush to all of us," Jacqueline laughed as Gabriel grinned mischievously.

ooOOoo

All that day Fred, George, Lee, and Thorn spent their free day looking for the secret passageways in the castle with the help from the Marauder's map. When they saw Percy walk past in their eyes, Thorn just walked away before she got caught in the middle of the prank that would unfold.

She walked through the halls bored out of her mind. "Okay so I'm walking through the halls like an idiot while Fred, George, and Lee prank Percy," she said as she stopped to stare out one of the many colorful stain glass windows.

"Hello, Thorn," a quiet voice greeted from behind.

Thorn turned around to see Leila with one her friendly smiles on her face. "Oh hey, Leila."

"Um what did you say Fred and George are doing?" she asked.

"They're planning on pulling a prank on Percy with Lee. They're going to put bows in his hair or something," Thorn replied, shrugging her shoulders.

"Oh my, why," Leila said, confused.

"They like to mess with him. After all, Percy is the twins' brother," Thorn said with a shake if her head and a light laugh.

"Oh right."

"Hey we're going to sneak out late tonight and prank Snape's office," she said giggling. "I think it will be fun. Do you want to come?" She looked at Leila with a smile and an expectant face.

"D-do you know how much trouble you'll be in if Professor Snape finds out?" Leila stated.

"Yes, that's if he finds out," Thorn laughed.

"And...and what about all the house points you'll lose if you get caught," she pointed out.

"Well if Snape doesn't catch us but someone else I think it will be fewer points compared to what Snape would take away. Do you want to come?"

"N-no. I'm sorry...," Leila said with an apologetic look. "I don't want to get expelled. I think you shouldn't do it."

"No way! And miss all the fun? I don't think so."

Leila sighed realizing whatever she said she wouldn't be able to persuade Thorn to not go through with the prank. So she decided to change the subject."What have you been doing all day?"

"Just searching for the secret passageways with the guys. Then left them when they saw Percy," Thorn informed Leila.

"Oh."

"Yep," Thorn said, popping the P. "What about you?"

"I've been reading in the library with Cedric and Jacqueline

"Sounds fun and productive," Thorn said, smiling. "I'm glad you have some sane people to hang out with in Hufflepuff. I was upset when you didn't get put into Gryffindor."

"Me too," Leila said, smiling at the fact that she wasn't alone in her house. "Do you want to go sit outside?"

"Sure!" Thorn said cheerfully. "I found this tree that has plenty of shade. You can even lay in the grass with shade over you."

"Sounds nice, let's go."

The two girls walked outside and Thorn led the way to a tree that was in the middle of the field. The sun shining through the leaves, twinkling as the wind blew.

"This is beautiful!" Leila exclaimed, looking up at the tree; shading her eyes from the sun light..

"I know right!" Thorn said, as she laid in the grass.

The two spent at least an hour and a half sitting under the tree's shade talking or Thorn taking an occassional nap. It was peaceful until they heard, "Oy! You two!"

They looked up to see Fred and George walking up the hill to them, grinning widely as ever.

"You missed it!" Fred said, a large grin plastered on his face.

"What did we miss?" Thorn asked.

"We were able to put a giant bow on the top of Percy's head and the best part was it was a pink bow," George said laughing.

"You should have seen all the faces he was getting."

"What happened after that?" Thorn asked. "Did you get caught?"

"Of course not!" they chorused.

"He just gave looks back to all the students in the halls and walked away," George explained.

"Really?" the girls said in disbelief.

"Nope," the boys said, their grins getting bigger.

"He didn't even realize he has a giant bow on his head?" Thorn asked amazed.

"No, that's what's so funny!" Fred said laughing.

"He's probably noticed by now," Leila said from her spot next to the tree.

"I bet," George said, grinning either way. "So what's up? You ready for tonight Thorn?"

"You bet!"

"You want to join Leila?" Fred offered, looking at Leila hopefully. "I'm sure Thorn's told you about our plans for tonight."

"Yes she did, but I don't want to get in trouble. I'm sorry," she said, lowering her voice at the last part.

"Aw you're no fun, Leila," George said smiling. "Live a little."

"Hey, where's Lee?" Thorn said, now realizing the third mastermind wasn't with them.

"Oh, we were going to put a stink bomb in one of the classrooms when it blew up in his face," Fred explained. "He's at the infirmary, Madam Pomfrey is fixing him up. I don't think he'll be coming with us tonight."

"Aw that's no good," Thorn said disappointed. "I hope he gets better."

"Same," the red heads said nodding solemnly.

"Hey Leila, you wanna see the secret passageways?" Thorn asked, eager to show her friend something only they would know about.

"Maybe some other time," she replied. "I'm not sure if I want to know about something that could get me in trouble."

"But you know about the Marauder's Map," the other three said together, which made them burst into laughter.

"Oh, I forgot about that I guess," she said, getting up from her spot next to the tree. "I'm going to visit Riley in the Owlry. I need to feed him.

"See ya later Leila," Thorn said waving goodbye.

ooOOoo

Long after the giant Halloween feast was finished and all the students were sleeping contently in their beds, one girl was still up sitting in the alcove. Thorn stroked Willow's fur awaiting for midnight to come.

_Oh I wish I had brought my alarm clock from home._ Thorn thought "Do you think it's midnight now, Willow?" she asked the brown cat, holding her up to her face.

Willow just meowed in reply.

"Me too," Thorn said standing up. She put Willow on her bed and slowly crept down the stairs to the common room. When she reached the bottom of the stairs she looked around the dark room. "Where are they?"

"Hey, Thorn."

Thorn gasped, taking a step back hitting the last stair causing her to fall backwards. Thankfully two people each grabbed one of her arms and caught her before she had hit the ground. Thorn's eyes finally adjusted to the dark and saw that she was facing the Weasley twins, who wore identical grins. "Geez, are you guys trying to give me a heart attack?" she said, putting a hand to her chest.

"Sorry," they said.

"You ready?" George asked.

"I am here aren't I?" she said, smirking.

"Good answer," Fred said. "Now let's go."

The three pushed open the portrait of the Fat Lady a crack and peeked around making sure Filch or Mrs. Norris weren't walking around.

"Okay, coast clear," George said.

The three Gryffindors crept through the entrance and started walking through the hall when they heard a small squeak like noise. Their hearts skipped a beat and they whipped around to see which staff member caught them. Only it wasn't a staff member, it was Leila with a matching terrified look as the three.

"You?' the twins said.

"Leila, I thought you weren't going to come?" Thorn said confused.

"I-I-I'm not," Leila said. "I'm h-here to stop you guys." Her eyes widened again at the twins' shocked faces. "B-bu-bu-but if you don't want to that's fine by me," she said quickly.

"Sorry, not gonna happen," Fred said. "But you can come along with us."

He smiled as the Gryffindors started walking again leaving Leila by herself. Only she began following them still trying to persuade them to stop, but eventually going quiet and following them. She didn't want to go with them, but she was afraid to be by herself out of the common room this late.

"You guys ready?" Thorn asked smiling.

"Ready," the red heads said and Leila slowly nodded her head unsure.

Thorn opened the door slowly hoping it wouldn't make too much noise. It didn't and they crept through the doorway and into the dark and gloomy office. Fred and George set to work with some stink bombs, Thorn pulling out some of the books, where as Leila just stood in the doorway fidgeting with her hands and the hem of her night gown.

"I-I think we should leave," she stuttered, looking around, expecting Snape to come out of the darkness and give them detention.

"What are you doing, Thorn?" Fred asked, looking over at her. Thorn had taken something out of her bathrobe's pocket and was tying it around the books.

"Zip tying the books closed," she replied, still finishing up her job.

"What are zip ties?" George asked, sticking the green bomb in one of the desk's drawers.

"M-muggles use them to prank each other," Leila said. "It keeps you from opening things."

"How do you know that?" George asked confused.

"Thorn told me when we first met on the train. I walked into the compartment to find her zip tying my bags," Leila replied, giggling at the memory.

The twins burst out laughing, quickly covering their mouths as the girls shushed them.

"You did that, Thorn?" Fred asked, still chuckling.

"Yeah, I thought she was going to be seriously mad when she caught me," Thorn said smiling at the memory. "She actually started laughing. That's when we started talking and basically became friends."

"I wouldn't have thought Leila would have gotten mad. She's too nice," George said, causing said girl to blush.

"Okay I think we're done," Fred said.

"Okay," Leila said just as a pile of chalk landed on her head. "Ow! What was that?" she asked the three, holding a hand where the chalk hit her. The three only stared up over her head with faces that said 'Oh great' and 'You've got to be kidding me'. Leila turned around and looked up to see Peeves floating overhead with an evil grin.

"What are ickle firsties doing down here in the middle of the night?" he said in his singsong voice.

"Go away, Peeves," Thorn said worried, knowing full well from older kids how destructive Peeves can be. And loud.

"Out of bed at this time?" Peeves said. "Could get in big trouble, yes."

"Please, Peeves," Leila said with pleading eyes.

"I should tell, yes I should," he continued, his grin growing wider.

"Peeves, go away!" Fred and George said, swatting at the poltergeist. Not their smartest idea.

"STUDENTS OUT OF BED!" Peeves shouted. "STUDENTS OUT OF BED, DOWN IN THE DUNGEONS!"

"Run!" Fred and George said scared. They took off running.

"No duh!" Thorn said as she and Leila ran after the twins.

They ran through the halls watching out for Filch or Mrs. Norris. They turned down a hall and stopped to catch their breath.

"This...was a...bad...idea," Leila said, breathing heavily.

"Do...you think...Filch...heard him?" Fred asked, holding the stitcdh in his side.

"Don't know...and I hope he didn't," George panted leaning on his knees.

"If Mrs. Norris finds us," Thorn said, finally catching her breath. "I swear I will drop kick that cat."

"Do you hear them my sweet?" Filch could be heard down the hall.

Leila let out a squeak as Fred pulled out the Marauder's Map and said, "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good." The map revealed itself and he pointed to a spot on the map. "There's a secret passageway just up this hall. Come on."

They ran towards the hall Fred had indicated until they saw a light walking towards them and heard the shuffling of feet.

"Filch!" George groaned.

"What about...this way?" Leila said, tugging lightly on Fred's sleeve before he pulled her along in the direction she indicated. However, George and Thorn didn't see where the two went and ran down another hall.

"There's a secret passageway behind that tapestry!" George grabbed her hand and pulled her behind the tapestry with him. He put his finger to his lips signaling her to stay quiet. George poked his head out of the tapestry and saw Filch walking towards them, lantern swinging in hand. He pulled himself back in the passageway and put his arm over Thorn to keep her against the wall, letting her know that it wasn't safe to go out yet. George looked out again; when the coast was clear he signaled Thorn to follow him.

"Where's Leila and Fred?" Thorn said looking around.

"Oh great, I think we got separated," George said with a groan.

"Uh oh," Thorn said her eyes going wide. "I hope nothing happens."

ooOOoo

Fred pulled Leila straight into the hallway that led to the Charms room. With a sudden push, Leila was propelled into the room, Fred running in behind her and the door closing, thank Merlin, quietly behind them.

"You okay?" Fred panted, catching his breath.

"Y-y-yes," Leila whispered, crouching behind a desk.

Fred smiled and chuckled at the run in with Filch, then suddenly looked around. "Where's Thorn and George?"

Leila popped her head up also, noticing that the two weren't in the room. "Oh no," she whispered. "We-we must've lost them." Leila sighed sitting back down; pulling her knees to her chest. Fred sat next to her and looked at her. "What?"

"I can't believe you actually came along tonight," he said with a smile. "I didn't think you'd actually join us, none of us did really."

"I-I was really trying to stop you guys...," Leila said.

"Either way, glad you came. We wouldn't want you to have missed this fun encounter with Peeves and Filch," he said with a laugh.

Leila smiled as the two fell into a silence listening for any signs of Filch or anyone outside the classroom.

Fred stretched his arms over his head and stood up. "I think it's safe to leave. We need to find George and Thorn, so let's just go. And hope for the best that we don't run into Filch." He reached a hand out towards Leila. "Come on."

Leila nodded her head and took Fred's hand and was pulled up off the floor. The two poked their heads out the door and once the were certain it was all clear to go, they left.

"You know," Fred started. "You should come on all our fun adventures."

"Um...maybe...," Leila answered uncertain.

Fred laughed as they continued through the hall only to have Leila trip and hit her hand against a suit of armor. The armor created a loud metallic clang that rang through the hall.

"Find them my pretty. Smell them out," Filche's voice wafted towards them and with fast feet Fred and Leila were out of the hallway before Filch even turned toward the sound of their running feet.

ooOOoo

"There you are!" all four students said when they ran into each other.

"What happened?" Leila asked.

"We must have gotten separated when we were running from Filch," Thorn said.

"Doesn't matter. None of us got caught," George said.

"Let's get back to our rooms, fast," Fred said.

"Good idea," Thorn said.

"P-please," Leila said, looking around them invade a teacher showed up.

"I see the Gryffindor entrance," Thorn said. "Good night Leila. I'm glad you came with us."

"Um...no problem?" Leila said, her eyes still slightly wide from the night's event.

The four first years said their good nights and hurried off to their common rooms ending their fun, eventful Halloween night**.**

**I hope you enjoyed their little adventure, if thats what you would like to call it (I don't know what to call it myself). **

**I'd like to say that with Leila's shyness I'm trying my best to not make her stutter a lot, but be a quiet girl. If you watch My Little Pony I'm kinda trying to get how Fluttershy talks. Thought I'd just clarify what I'm trying to go for.**

**I have a tumblr account for A Thorn in My Side so if you want to ask any questions to me or the characters, send fan mail, or just want to chat.**

**Account is a-thorn-in-my-side. Hope to hear from any of you. :)**

**I hope you enjoyed that chapter. Please leave a review and tell me what you liked and what you didn't like. I will take things you don't like into consideration and see if its something I might be able to change in future chapters. Thank you! :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**I hope you like A Thorn in My Side so far. Here is chapter 4 enjoy! Thank you to all my wonderful readers.**

**Reviews: **

**Skyrider244: Thank you so much for the review it completely made my day! I was actually excited to here that you're in winter guard. Are you going to WGI? And yeah no social life just practices and drama :P but I love it. I'm glad you like the story!**

Chapter 4

Winter break was finally here. All the students were talking excitedly about what they would do during their breaks.

Thorn, Fred, George, Lee, Alicia, and Angelina were sitting in the common room in front of the fire. Of course Leila was there, Thorn having brought her along. Sometimes she would bring Cedric and Jacqueline with her feeling that she didn't want to be the only Hufflepuff in the Gryyfindor common room. ("Don't worry, there's a ton of students from houses in here," Fred said, gesturing to around the group.) Tonight, however, Leila was the only Hufflepuff amongst the group, who all chattered about their respective winter break plans.

"So what's everyone doing during their break?" Alicia asked. "My aunt it inviting my and I to stay at her house in France."

"We're staying at our house," Fred began.

"But our brother Bill is coming, which is exciting," George finished.

"Sounds fun," Angelina said. "My family's going to Belgium, but I can't wait to just see my family."

"I'm going to visit my grandparents in Chelsea," Lee said. "And I'll be coming up with some new pranks, of course. Make them have a few heart attacks before we have our bread pudding."

"Excellent," the twins said, high fiving him.

"I'm just staying home too," Thorn said. "My family never goes anywhere for Christmas. We feel it's better to stay home for the holidays, it's more...," she thought for a word to describe it. "Homey. What about you Leila?"

"I'm going to be at my house for the holidays. We usually have family come over for Christmas Day," she said, smiling happily as she watched the fire flicker and crack.

"Well I'll miss you guys," Angelina said , smiling sadly. "But we still have the train ride back to talk and hang out."

"Yeah I'll miss everyone, but I can't wait for Christmas!" Thorn shouted, causing everyone to laugh.

ooOOoo

On the train the large group of friends found compartments across from each other. Thorn, Leila, and the Weasley twins had their own compartment and Lee, Angelina, Alicia, and Cedric had the compartment across from them. The two compartments kept their doors open so they could still talk to each other.

At one point during the train's journey Fred, George, and Lee began throwing crumpled up pieces of parchment across the aisle.

"Really?" Cedric said with a chuckle, one paper hitting him between the eyes.

"Bulls eye," Thorn said laughing. "They're just having fun. Here watch." Thorn picked up a crumpled paper off the ground and threw it right at George's face.

"Hey!" he said.

"But that's an easy shot," Cedric remarked, crumpling up his own piece of parchment. He threw it through both doorways and hit Leila on the forehead. "Oops sorry, Leila."

Leila laughed. "Let me try," she said and proceeded to throw a parchment at the other compartment.

That started a war between the two compartments. They established the points as well whenever someone hit another person. Balls of parchment went flying through the aisle and through each compartment as each kid tried to hit someone else in the other compartment. By the end of the war both compartments and the aisle were filled with crumpled up pieces of parchment.

"Who won?" Alicia asked, as she began picking up the papers.

"I don't know," Lee said helping her. "I lost count."

"Same here," Angelina said, stuffing some papers in her pockets.

"Me too," Roger said, putting the papers he picked up in one of his bags. "Do you guys know?" he asked the other compartment.

"No clue," came Thorn's response as she teased Willow with a paper ball, the cat expertly maneuvering to whack at the paper.

"We don't know," the twins said, shrugging their shoulders.

"That was fun," Leila said with a smile.

"It was," Thorn laughed.. "It also killed time."

"Yeah it did," Lee said fist pumping.

"Oh wow!" Angelina exclaimed. "Look outside!"

Everyone gathered around their compartment's window and saw the fields all covered in pure white snow. The sun reflecting off it making it twinkle like a thousand diamonds.

"It's beautiful!" Thorn exclaimed.

"Oh my," someone said. "What happened here?"

The group turned to see the snack cart lady standing outside looking at the paper balls in the aisle.

"A paper ball fight," George said slowly witha sheepish smile.

The lady shook her head, "Children will be children. Would you like anything?"

"Licorice wands!" Thorn shouted immediately.

"Pumpkin pasties!" Cedric and Lee yelled.

"Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans!" Leila said with surprising excitement making everyone looked at her shocked that she actually spoke out with that much enthusiasm, some like Thorn smiled while others like Cedric laughed. She quickly closed her mouth and a blush to creep up on her face.

Soon the first years were munching on their sweets and still laughing and talking. At last the long journey ended and they were on platform 9 and 3/4. The platfomr was flooded with students and families. Thorn was with Leila and everybody else unloading their luggage when she heard, "Thorn!"

She turned around and saw her parents standing a few feet away from her. She ran to them shouting, "Mum! Dad!" The family met in a giant hug with Thorn in the middle.

"Hey kiddo," her dad said ruffling her hair when they finally released her from the sandwich hug.

"Hi, Dad! Hi, Mum!"

"How've you been sweetie?" her mom asked.

"Great!" Thorn exclaimed, jumping in the air emphasizing her point.

"That's great," she laughed. "Are you ready to go?"

"Just a sec," Thorn said disappearing into the sea of families. She looked around and found her things still with Fred, George, and Leila. "Where did everybody else go?"

"They left with their families," George said shrugging.

"But they said to tell you goodbye and to write them over the break," Fred said.

"Okay, well I'm about to leave," Thorn said. "See you Leila," she said hugging her friend, "Write me as often as you can."

"Of course," Leila said hugging her back sadly.

Thorn turned to the twins, "You guys too. Write me and tell me if you have new pranks."

"You got it," they said looking at each other with an evil look in their eyes. Next thing Thorn knew, she was in a death hug from both twins. "Thorn sandwich!"

"Can't breathe you guys," Thorn said laughing.

The twins released her and began giving Leila grins. Leila squeaked and backed away from the two. Disappointed the twins shrugged and the four said their goodbyes. Thorn put her luggage on a trolley and pushed it over to her parents.

"Ready!" she said.

"Okay," Charles Fernsby said, grabbing a side of the trolley. "Ready? One...two...three!"

The two ran through the station pushing the trolley passed wizarding families and Muggles. Willow meowed in irritation as the trolley rattled over the ground. Lucille Fernsby laughed as she walked behind her husband and daughter who were both talking animatedly about her studies and new experiences in Hogwarts.

At the car Thorn was telling her parents about everything she did at Hogwarts, leaving some certain things out of course, as she helped her dad put her things in the trunk.

"And then someone's feather disappeared when we were trying to make them float with the Wingardium Leviosa spell," Thorn said excitedly.

"Sounds like you're enjoying Hogwarts," Charles said chuckling.

"I love it!" she exclaimed.

Through the car ride Thorn's parents asked her questions about her classes, friends, and the other usual questions parents ask their kids about school. She answered each of them with as much energy as a five year old getting presents.

"We're here," announced Thorn's mom as the car pulled up to their brick townhouse.

The house was crushed from both sides between other townhouses on either side. The street was tree lined and sprinkled with its own new wave of snow. Thorn was careful as she clutched the steps' iron handrail. She loved her house for it was right near Paddington Station which meant she and her family could travel using the Muggle metro system instead of having to use the car or Floo network all the time. Since it was Winter all the flower boxes that were hanging from the windows in the front were bare and covered in snow, but she knew that come Spring white roses would fill the boxes. After running through the bright red door Thorn rushed up the stairs two at a time until she reached her green painted door.

It was quite a remarkable room; the walls were painted to look like a forest. Her bed, against the wall to the left of the door, was covered with green and pink blankets and pillows. Her desk was piled with doodles, photos, and the occassional book. There was a window right across from the door that had a window seat with it. Thorn loved that spot in her room, she was able to sit there and look out over the street. There was a nightstand next to her bed with a lamp on top with an alram clock next to it, a picture from with a photo of her and her parents, which was charmed to move, and on the shelf of the nightstand was a boom box with cassette tapes stacked next to it. Next to the window was her dresser and closet. On the dresser was a jewelry box and more scattered objects. But what Thorn loved the most about her room was that her dad had enchanted the floor and there, in the middle of her room, was a grand tree.

As a little girl, and still to this day, Thorn would climb it, hang decorations, like the lights that were hanging on it now, and occassionally sleep up in it in a hammock. On the trunk were a bunch of carvings like 'Thorn was here', 'Charles was here', recently 'Hogwarts year 1', and a bunch of other things. The thing Thorn loved the most about the tree was that it matched the seasons. During the Spring, flowers would bloom; in the Summer the leaves would be bright green; the leaves changed colors, but never fell off in Autumn; and because it was Winter, icicles were hanging from the branches, enchanted to never melt, but only to vanish when the season changed.

She looked at the tree admiring its beauty. Thorn climbed up to the tallest branch and sat down amongst a brown blanket she kept there. Whenever she was upset, wanted to think, or just sit, she always sat on that one branch. She felt taller when she sat up there. She felt she could look down on the world from there even though it was just her room.

Thorn looked up at the ceiling and found her doodles, quotes from movies and books; there were dates from birthdays, holidays, New Years, and other important days she wanted to remember as well. She grabbed the pencil taped to the ceiling and wrote:

'Hogwarts 1st year Christmas'

Thorn looked at her handwritten inscription feeling lonely without her group of friends to share the personal moment with. Her mind began to wonder what everyone else was doing on their holidays.

ooOOoo

Leila walked away from the group looking and left Platform 9 and 3/4. She searched through the crowd of passing "Muggles", as all her friends called the nonmagical people, for her parents, With a delighted gasp she spotted a woman with short blonde hair, holding a little boy with platinum blonde hair. They were standing next to a man with graying blonde hair that had a windswept look to it. The three were pressed against the wall trying to look over the tops of all students and parents' heads. The little boy was pulling the woman's hand pointing towards the crowd as if hoping to explore the station.

Maneuvering through the crowd Leila popped up in front of her mother pulling her into a hug.

"I missed you," Leila whispered.

"Hello, sweetheart," her mother said her voice warm and polite. The little boy jumped up and down seeing his sister after so long.

Leila hugged him as he flung himself at her. "Hello, Simon," she giggled as he kept saying "Leila" over and over.

Leila pulled away and turned to her father who picked her up in a hug. "Hello, Dad!" she said smiling up at him.

"Hey, Sweetie. How has school been?" he asked as he helped push her cart through the station.

"It's been going well. A-a bit frightening at first," she answered.

"I would imagine," her dad said with a laugh. "I mean a school of witches and wizards. I would be frightened too."

"Jackson, hush," Mrs. Monroe said scolding her husband as Simon ran up to the trolley to help push as well. "Do you want people to think you've gone mad?" She looked around them hoping that no one had heard their conversation. Everyone around them seemed to be in their own world, hurrying about, too busy to listen to their conversation. Or anyone's for that matter.

"Mary, it's alright. No one is listening as you can see," Mr. Monroe said with a smile.

The family reached their car and Mr. Monroe loaded Leila's belongings into the trunk before driving down the street. Simon was talking animatedly about his school and all the things Leila had missed while she was away. Leila smiled contently as she listened to her brother, eventually staring out the window when he turned his attention to his parents.

Soon, the family pulled up into a driveway that belonged to a light colored brick house. Attached to the house were two garages and at the front of the house was a gray stoned walkway that led to a porch that had tan pillars and a black door. Surrounding the house was a modest amount of plants that were well kept along with the trimmed front yard.

Once the car was parked, Simon jumped out and run into the house, his arms spread out by his side. Mrs. Monroe followed him telling him to be careful of a vase. Mr. Monroe and Leila gathered her things from the trunk and headed inside.

"Dinner will be ready shortly," Mrs. Monroe shouted from the kitchen where the smell of chicken wafted from.

Leila brought her stuff to her room and set Riley's cage on her night stand. She opened the cage and gave him a quick pet before he flew around the room, glad to finally stretch his wings. Leila laughed as she watched the Pygmy owl fly around in circles hooting joyfully. He looked like a ball of fluff whiz zing around.

As soon as Leila unpacked her belongs she laid on her bed and looked around her room. She had missed it over the few months she had been gone, but she did like the Hufflepuff dormitory as well; looking around she saw that everything was still the same. The walls were still a pale blue, her dresser still had its little trinkets on it, and her bookshelf was still full of her favorite stories and childhood fairy tales. Her picture frames still had pictures of her and her family, but unlike the paintings and pictures she had seen at Hogwarts, hers didn't move.

She smiled to herself and was about to close her eyes for a quick nap before Simon bounded in announcing that dinner was ready.

ooOOoo

Thorn was laying up in her tree with the brown blanket wrapped around her shoulders staring at the words on the ceiling when suddenly she heard her dad call her from the downstairs. Thorn climbed down and walked to the railing to see her dad standing at the bottom of the stairs.

"Yeah, Dad?" Thorn said when she walked down to him.

"I was wondering if you would like to play a quick game of Quidditch before dinner," he said with a smile.

"Sure, but I don't have a broom," she said confused.

"Well I was going to wait 'til Christmas to give you this, but...," Mr. Fernsby said as he pulled a broom with a red bow tied at the top of the handle. "I thought you could get just one early Christmas present."

Thorn gasped and hugged her dad. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" She said quickly. She jumped up and down as her dad handed the broom to her. She looked it over, admiring it.

"A Cleansweep Five," Mr. Fernsby said. "Not the fastest broom, but it's the top of the line for this type."

""I love it!" Thorn said, hugging her dad again. "I can use it for Quidditch auditions for next year!"

"Then we should get some practice in," he said as he walked into the kitchen to grab his own broom that was sitting in a corner.

"I thought I asked you to put that in the she's out back?" Mrs. Fernsby said, giving her husband an accusatory look as she pured some water into a teapot and setting it to boil. Thorn found it funny that her mother still liked to do things the Muggle way when her father liked to do things with magic. "I had to tell Ansley from work the it was a decoration idea when she stopped by for a meeting."

"Sorry, love," Mr. Fernsby said, quickly kissing his wife. "Slipped my mind." He grabbed his broom and raced Thorn to the back yard.

"Everything slips your mind," Mrs. Fernsby shouted after him making him laugh.

ooOOoo

"Leila!" Mrs. Monroe called from the living room. She got up an walked to the foot of the stairs before calling again.

Leila appeared at the railing a minute later. "Yes, Mum?"

"I'm having another office party here on Christmas Eve like last year. Do you think you could help me with cleaning?"

"Okay," Leila said. "Would you like me to clean the living room?"

"If you could, that'd be wonderful sweetheart," her mom said as she walked away into the kitchen where the sound of running water could be heard.

So for the next two days Leila helped her mom prepare for the party. She cleaned every room thoroughly. And finally the day for the party arrived and it was ten minutes until the guests arrived. The two females were doing some last minute things, unfortunately for them Mr. Monroe couldn't be there to help since he had to work that night.

"Okay, Simon's in bed. I have the appetizers, the drinks, cups, napkins, aaand...plates! Where are the plates?" her mom said flustered as she looked around the kitchen for them.

"Mum, they're right here," Leila said pointing to a stack of plastic plates on the coffee table. "Don't worry, Mum, everything looks good," she said with a small smile.

"Thank you, Leila," she said. The doorbell rang. "Leila, could you get that? I'm getting the rest of the food set up in the kitchen."

"Okay," she said going to the door. She opened it and outside were the first six guests. "Hello," Thorn greeted with a shy smile.

"Oh you must be Leila," a plump woman with black hair said. "I'm Mrs. Tooley."

"Hi Mrs. Tooley," Leila said letting the group in.

The group consisted of Mrs. Tooley, Mr. and Mrs. Richardson, Mr. Smithers, the Chilcotts, Mr. Lerwick, Ms. Darlington, and Mrs. Green and her son.

"Hello I'm Mrs. Green. You must be Leila," Mrs. Green said smiling. "Your mother tells me you're the same age as Arnold," she said putting a hand on her son's shoulder. He waved shyly.

The boy named Arnold had blonde hair that reached the top of his ears and blue eyes. He wasn't skinny, but he wasn't big either. In fact he looked like the most average boy she had ever seen.

"Oh there's your mother. Mary!" Mrs. Green said leaving the two eleven year old alone.

"Hi, I'm Leila," Leila said, hoping she sounded cheerful and not too shy.

"I-I'm Arnold," Arnold said, a faint shade of pink on his cheeks.

"What do you like to do for fun?" Thorn said, hoping to make small talk with him and having the shy boy open up a bit.

"Uh...well um...," Arnold said, stuttering as he tried to think. "Uh I like to read..."

"Me too," Leila said with a smile.

"Really?" Arnold said looking a bit more confident with talking to her.

"I um like to read fairy tales," she said with a blush. She didn't really like talking to new people, but she could tell Arnold was just as shy as her.

Arnold's face lit up. He looked down at the ground smiling, wanting to say something, but couldn't think of what to say.

"D-do you want anything to drink?" Leila asked. "I can get you something."

"Sure. Thank you," he said, finally remembering his manners.

For the rest of the night the two talked and talked about what they like and don't like. Arnold seemed more bold than how he first appeared, a lot more confident with talking to new people than Leila. When the party ended Leila was with her mom at the front door saying goodbye to the last of the guests.

"Goodbye Arnold," she said waving. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas, Leila!" he said, waving back with a smile. "Goodbye."

When the last guest left, Lucille flopped down on the couch. "Phew, I'm tired. What about you, Leila?"

"Same," Leila said, sitting down on the couch.

The two looked around at the empty plates, cups, and left over food.

"You think you could do some hocus pocus and whip this place up clean?" her mom said with a laugh.

Leila giggled. "Sorry, Mum. We aren't allowed to use magic outside of school until we are of age, seventeen." She looked at the clock on the wall. It was twelve o'clock midnight. "Merry Christmas, Mum."

"Merry Christmas Leila . Why don't you head off to bed," her mom said giving her daughter a hug good night.

"Okay," Leila said walking up the stairs. In her room she sat at the window watching the snow fall. Then something flew up to the window. It was two owls, one a barn owl that Leila recognize, the other a rather old looking owl, they had something in their beaks and talons. Leila opened the wndow and the owls flew in right before she closed it again, dropping a letter and a package each, then flew to rest on the tree. She looked at the letters and smiled. "Thorn, Fred and George sent me something. Oh, now I can send their Christmas gifts with their owls."

She opened the letter from Thorn.

_Dear Leila,_

_Merry Christmas! I hope you're having a wicked break. It took me a while to find the perfect thing to give you, but I found just the gift. I got you some Wizard candy that I thought you might like along with my Mum's homemade fudge. I hope you like it. Merry Christmas!_

_- From Thorn_

Leila placed the letter down and set up a small bowl of bottled water for the owls, who gratefully drank, she grabbed the package. It was wrapped in shiny blue wrapping paper with silver swirls all over it and a silver bow on top. She untied the bow and tore the paper apart. She opened the box and laying inside was a bunch of odd candies that she had never seen before and some that she had from the train ride to and from Hogwarts. Leila lifted it out and underneath those was a small box. She opened it to find the fudge that had been mentioned. She smiled. Thorn obviously knew the perfect gifts for people.

Leila walked over to her nightstand and put the candies down. She then grabbed her quill and some parchment and began writing her letter.

_Dear Thorn,_

_Thank you so much for the candy. I love it!I hope that I will like them as well and that you're having fun too. I thought you might enjoy some cookies that I made (please tell me if they're good. I've never baked before). i also got you a copy of Grimms fairy tales. Merry Christmas!_

_- Leila_

She put the letter in an envelope tying the letter and package to the owl's leg, who hooted before flying gracefully out the window. Next she opened the second letter. It was slightly messy, it had two different hand writing as if the writers traded off while writing the note.

_**Hey Leila!** It's Fred and George! How's your break going? **We remembered how you were talking about those Muggle fairytales** and you don't know any wizard fairytales. So we decided** to give you one of our copies of The Tales of Beedle the Bard,** a book of wizard fairy tales. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do. **Merry Christmas!**_

_- Fred and **George**_

_P.S. Our mum made us send you our Christmas card._**_ We'd appreciate it if you not laugh but understand._**

Leila smiled before she grabbed the package, which was wrapped in maroon wrapping paper and tied with green ribbon. When she tore it open she found an old, worn out book. Sticking out of the book on a random page was a Christmas card of a whole family of red heads smiling and waving up at her. There was a plump woman sitting next to a man who she figured were Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Around them was a tall boy with long, red hair and a fang earring, Charlie next to him looking casual as usual and Percy who was casting disapproving looks over his glasses at Fred and George next to him who were with a little boy and girl in front of them. All the kids were wearing the same sweater, but in different colors and with different letters for their names. Leila smiled at the photo and put it back in the book. She began writing her response.

_Dear Fred and George,_

_I'm doing great. How's your break? Thank you so much for the book, I can't wait to read it. I got you guys a copy of Muggle fairy tales and Muggle candy. Hope you guys like them. The picture was cute. You guys look so happy. _

_- Leila_

Leila gave the second, great grey owl the letter and package which sighed tiredly before departing flying back to its home with her present.

Leila watched until she couldn't see the owl's outline, then changed into her pajamas and climbed into bed.

"Oh you're back, Riley," she said when the brown pygmy owl flew through the window and into her room landing on her bed's headboard. Leila fell asleep quickly as she the long day caught up to her.

ooOOoo

Christmas Eve breakfast was a tradition in the Fernsby family. Which meant it was full of shouting and laughter. Every year Thorn would help her parents make pancakes which involved her sneaking chocolate chips in the mix with the help of her dad until they were caught by Mrs. Fernsby, who complained about them never having regular pancakes. Then she would shout at the mess the two would make because Thorn and Mr. Fernsby would flick drops of batter at each other.

The table was less rambunctious than the kitchen. The three would talk and laugh, telling jokes or goofing off. Mostly Mrs. Fernsby would roll her eyes and laugh at how her husband would act.

After breakfast and presents Thorn went up to her room to Fred Willow, who was more than likely curled up on her bed. Upon entering her room Thorn saw two owls at her window.

"Zachary!" Thorn said. "Leila and Fred and George replied."

She opened the window and Zachary and the other owl flew into the room and landed on a branch in the tree, but not before dropping a letter and package on her bed causing Willow to jump off the bed in surprise. Looking at the package Thorn saw that it was wrapped in red and green stripe wrapping paper.

Ripping open the first letter that was written in tidy print, Thorn read,

_Dear Thorn,_

_Thank you so much for the candy. I love it!I hope that I will like them as well and that you're having fun too. I thought you might enjoy some cookies that I made (please tell me if they're good. I've never baked before). I also got you a copy of Grimms Fairy Tales. Merry Christmas!_

_- Leila_

Then she ripped the wrapping paper off the package to reveal a hard cover book with gold writing on it saying "Grimms Fairy Tales" just as Leila had said in the letter. Then next to the book was a small box that no doubt held the cookies.

Turning to the other package Thorn opened the letter to see two different handwriting which made her laugh.

_Hey Thorn. **How's your break?** Do you miss us yet? **We thought that for a gift we'd give you** some stink bombs of your own that way you don't have to steak ours. **Also we got you a box of Bertie Botts.** Hope you like it. **Merry Christmas!**_

_- Fred and **George**_

_P.S. Our mum made us send you our Christmas card. **We'd appreciate it if you not laugh but understand.**_

Thorn set the letter down staring at the package and ripped away the maroon wrapping paper. Inside was, sure enough, some stink bombs and a box of Bertie Botts. But underneath the box and stink bombs was a photo of the Weasleys. They were all smiling and waving at her; and of course the twins were being themselves by making faces and bothering Percy. All the children were wearing sweaters that had a letter on it for their name.

"Awesome," Thorn said as she looked at the gifts, eating- more like gagging- on some Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans.

She quickly wrote out her replies to Leila and the twins before sending the owls back out. She quickly gave Willow her food, who had hid behind a chair in the corner of the room. When that was done Thorn made herself comfy on her bed with Willow curled up on her lap and began to read the book Leila had given her.

ooOOoo

It was Christmas morning at The Burrow and the Weasley's were all at the table eating breakfast.

"Fred and George! Stop throwing your food at Ron!" Mrs. Weasley scolded her twins, who were throwing bits of toast at their younger brother, Ron.

"Yes ma'am," they said, puttin their toast back on their plates.

"Percy dear, could you please stop reading at the table?" she asked Percy, who had his nose in another one of his books.

"But this book is so interesting. It's talking about-" Percy stopped when he saw the look his mother was giving him and put the book down.

Suddenly Errol flew through the window, dropping a letter and package in front of the twins before landing rather ungraceful on the couch.

"Hey it's from Thorn!" Fred said. He reached for the letter, but Bill snatched it up before he could.

"Aw is it a love letter?" he teased his voice booming.

"She's replying to a gift we sent her," George said reaching for the letter.

Bill pulled it out of his reach and opened it. He began reading out loud, pushing the twins away from him as they reached for the letter.

"'Dear Fred and George, I'm doing great! How's your break? Thank you so much for the gifts, I can't wait to put it to good use. For your gifts I got you guys a Muggle toy called a yo-yo, some Muggle candy, zip ties, and some joke wands that my Dad helped me fix up," he read.

When the twins heard about the gifts they forgot about the letter and ripped open the colorful wrapped package. "Awesome!" they said, looking at the different assortment of gifts.

"What are zip ties?" Ginny asked, trying to peer over the twins' shoulders at the gifts.

"Muggles use them to prank each other," Fred said, fooling around with the yo-yo. The string wrapped itself around his hand as he tried to figure out how to make it work. They were going to have to ask Thorn about it.

"You put them on bags and it keeps you from opening them," George said, trying a piece of the candy.

"Fascinating," Mr. Weasley said, looking at the items the boys were pulling out of the package.

"Is that all the letter says?" George asked. "Can we have it now?"

"Nope," Bill said laughing at their annoyed faces. "There's still more."

"Well, let us read it then!" Fred said reaching for the letter again, only to be pushed away.

Bill continued, "'Great picture by the way. You guys look so happy. Love the sweaters. Where can I get one? Thorn.'" When he was done he tossed the letter to Fred and George who snatched it up immediately.

"Who's Thorn?" asked Mrs. Weasley.

"Oh she's Charles Fernsby's daughter, you know from the Ministry?" Mr. Weasley said. "I met her on the platform on the first day going to Hogwarts."

"Well if she likes your sweaters I can make her one for you to bring back for her," Molly Weasley said.

"Uh mum, I think she was joking," Charlie laughed.

"Now why would you think that?" she asked as Fred and George smirked into their eggs.

After they finished breakfast and everyone opened their presents, everyone was left to their own thing the rest of the day, all enjoying their break from work and school.

George was in their room when a great horned owl flew into the room landing on George's bed. Fred was in the bathroom at the moment leaving George all alone. He untied the owl's package making sure to untie all of the strings so that Bill would never know he and Fred had borrowed his owl to deliver their gifts. George tore open the letter that was writing in a neat handwriting.

_Dear Fred and George,_

_I'm doing great. How's your break? Thank you so much for the book, I can't wait to read it. I got you guys a copy of Muggle fairy tales and Muggle candy. Hope you like them. The picture was cute. You look so happy._

_- Leila_

George grinned for a few moments happy that Leila had like their gift.

"What's with the village idiot grin?" Fred asked loudly, snapping George out of his trance.

"Leila's sent us our present. She loved hers," George said, handing his twin the letter.

"Great, what she send us?" Fred asked as he read the letter. "Muggle fairy tales. That will be cool."

"So are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Fred asked pulling out one of the wands and the zip ties.

"Always Freddie," George replied, mischief in his eyes as the two twins snuck out of the room.

An hour later Percy walked into the kitchen asking his mother where his school bags were.

"Hey, Percy!" Fred and George called in a sing song voice.

"What do you want?" Percy asked as he walked out of the kitchen.

"Look up," they said pointing up at the top of the stairs.

"Why do you want me to-" He stopped talking when he saw what they were pointing at. Attached to the railing, tied all together in one clump were his school bags. "What did you do?"

"Zip ties!" they said laughing.

"Zip ties...what the bloody hell?" Percy said staring up at his bags.

"Language, Percy," Mrs. Weasley admonished. Then she called out the window. "Bill! Bill! Come here."

Bill Weasley walked into the kitchen, his work gloves still on from de-gnoming the yard.

"Yeah, Mum?" he said.

"Can you get Percy's bags off the stairs?" Mrs. Weasley said as she continued with the washing as the plates dried themselves.

"Um sure let me just go get my-"

"Borrow mine!" Fred said, pushing the wand into Bill's hand. Bill blinked, but shrugged.

Just as Bill was speaking the spell the wand burst in his hand, perfume shooting all around Bill who covered his nose and waved the mist away. Bill now smelled like a Parisian spring garden and looked more pissed off than ever. The twins ran so fast they were gone by the time Bill had waved all the perfume away.

The rest of the day went on like that. Fred and George's plan was to prank every family member before Christmas was over, which they successfully did thanks to Thorn's gifts and their own pranks.

Now that Christmas was over, soon everyone's winter break would end and school would start again bringing them back together.

ooOOoo

Winter break was over and school was starting again. Platform 9 and 3/4 was full of wizards, Muggles, and students bustling about loading their luggage onto the train, chasing pets, and reuniting with friends. Thorn stood in the middle of it all looking around.

"What's wrong, Thorn?" her mom asked.

"I'm looking for my friends," she said.

"Well maybe they're loading their things on the train, like you should be instead of your dad," Mrs. Fernsby said with a smile.

"Sorry," Thorn said following her to the train. Just then a hand covered her eyes and another hand covered her mouth. Thorn was caught off guard, but reflexes quickly kicked in and she jabbed her elbow into someone's gut and kicked another person in the shin They fell to the ground with a groan.

Thorn turned around and saw her captures on the ground, a pair of red headed twins, groaning in pain. Some people around them stared at the twins on the ground, having seen what had happened.

"Ow, Thorn!" George said, holding his stomach.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry!" Thorn said covering her mouth in shock.

"Did you have to do that?" Fred asked holding his leg.

"Oh my gosh! A-are you alright? Leila said, running over to help the twins up.

"Leila!" Thorn exclaimed, hugging her friend who hugged her in return equally as happy.

"What? Was attacking us our greeting?" Fred said sitting up now, still holding his leg.

"Well you greeted me by grabbing me," Thorn pointed out.

"How was your Christmas?" Leila asked Thorn.

"Loads of fun!" Thorn said. "Thank you so much for the book."

"You're welcome," Leila said smiling.

"Yeah thanks for our boon too,"" Fred asked.

"With our dad he'll be the one reading it all the time," George said laughing.

"Oh yeah, doesn't your dad work in the Department of Misuse of Muggle Artefacts?" Thorn asked.

"Yep. He loves Muggle stuff," George explained.

"What about your dad, Thorn?" Fred asked.

"The Department of-"

"International Magical Cooperation," Mr. Fernsby said, walking up behind his daughter.

"Oh hi, Dad," Thorn said, smiling. Her smile fell as she groaned. "Sorry! I forgot to help with the luggage."

"It's fine," "I'm done, no big deal sweetheart."

"Oh yeah, Dad, this is Leila Monroe," Thorn said, gesturing to the blonde next to her.

"H-hello," Leila greeted, waving timidly

"Hello, Leila," he greeted back with a warm smile. "I hear you're a Muggle born."

"Y-yes," she squeaked out, blushing red.

"Hello Mr. Fernsby," the twins chorused.

"Hey boys," Charles Fernsby said. "You four better get on the train before it leaves."

"Okay Dad," Thorn said.

After Thorn said her goodbyes to her parents she got on the train with Leila, Fred, and George.

"We found a compartment already," Fred said.

When they reached their compartment Leila and Thorn were greeted by Angelina, Alicia, Lee, Cedric, and Jacqueline.

"Thorn! Leila!" Alicia said hugging each girl in turn. "How was your break?"

"Good thanks," they both said.

"Ready for more pranks?" Lee asked, grinning.

"You know it," Thorn said, high fiving him.

"Did you guys have fun over the break?" Angelina asked, hugging them.

"Tons!" Thorn said hugging her back.

"Hey, Leila! How was your break? Thanks for the gift, Jacqueline said, her face lighting up. "Did you like mine?"

"Yes, thank you," Leila said, smiling.

"Can't wait to get back," Fred said taking the seat by the window.

"Oh no you don't," Thorn said standing in front of him, her hands on her hips.

"What?" he asked confused.

"You did not just take the window seat," she said.

"Looks like I did," he said grinning cheekily.

"Up!" Thorn demanded.

"Make me," he said, sticking his tongue out at her.

She kicked him in the shin, "You want to get up now?"

"It's all yours," he said grabbing his leg.

"That's what I thought," she said sitting down gracefully, smiling.

"Can you please stop kicking me?"

"Then try not taking the window seat."

The rest of the group laughed at the show. Soon they were talking, laughing, and eating sweets as the train made its journey to Hogwarts.

At some point during the ride before it ended they changed into their robes. The boys taking one compartment, while the girls changed in the other.

When they were done and off the train, Lee turned to the group and said,

"Hey guys. Welcome back home."

**I hope you liked the chapter. Leave review please. I'd love to hear from you or hear any comments. And don't forget to check out A Thorn in My Side on tumblr**.


	5. Chapter 5

**I hope you have like the story so far. Here's chapter five which means that year one is coming to a close. Enjoy!**

Chapter 5

_Dear Thorn,_

_How's the rest of the school year been for you? Tell me about your final exams. Did you ace them? How are your friends? Your mother and I can't wait to see you. Have a great time during your last few days at Hogwarts. It may feel sad to leave, trust me I felt the same way, but you'll have great memories and friends from there and you'll make new ones every year. Love you so much._

_Love Dad_

Thorn sat in one of the comfy chairs in the library rereading the letter she got from her dad over and over again trying to figure out what she wanted to say in her reply. She contemplated what to write for at least ten more minutes, the sounds of the library filling her ears: the scratching of quills on parchment, pages in books being turned, and the low whispers and laughs from different students. Finally Thorn grabbed her quill, dipping it into her ink well and began to write.

_Dear Dad,_

_School's been great, boring, tiring, and loads of work, but great. My final exams were good. I felt I did better on some subjects than others, like Charms and Transfiguration. Potions I felt I did okay on, while the rest of my classes I pray I passed. My friends are doing great as well; we're having the time of our lives every minute of every day. Everyone is awesome and something new always happens when I'm with them. I can't wait to see you guys too. Thanks for the advice, I do feel a bit sad knowing my first year is almost over, but I can't wait for more fun to come later on. I love you too._

_Love Thorn_

Thorn sealed the letter in an envelope and got up from her seat. After leaving the peace and quiet of the library she walked through the somewhat loud hallways. She was on her way to the school's owlery when Fred and George came up on each side of her linking arms together.

"Hey Thorn," George said on her left.

"What's up ?" Fred said on her right.

"I'm on my way to the Owlery so I can send my dad a letter," she responded showing them the letter.

"Do you need us to proof read it for ya?" Fred asked reaching for the letter, a mischievous grin on his face.

Thorn snatched it out of his reach. "Like I want you two to read it. Plus it's none of your business what I write to my parents," she said with a smile.

"But we care about you Thorn," George said smiling.

"Well then if you care about me," Thorn said. "Do me a favor."

"And what's that?" the twins asked.

"Mind your own business," she said shaking out of their grasp and taking off in a run laughing.

"Hey! Wait for us!"

The three ran down the hall passing some students, the twins behind Thorn. "Try to keep up," she yelled over her shoulder.

"Then how about you stop running?" Fred shouted. They almost ran into her because she had stopped. She was now opening the door to the Owlery and walking into the room full of feathers and different colored and sized owls. She gave the letter to a small brown and white school owl, which took off through one of the windows into the afternoon sky.

"Now that that's done, let's go find Leila and Lee and go do something," George said.

"I say we prank Snape," Fred said.

"Why is it that you love pranking Snape?" Thorn asked. "Do you have a secret crush on him or something?" The comment caused George to burst out into laughter and Fred to turn a shade of red that was brighter than his hair.

"He's turning red," George said through his fit of laughter. "It must be true."

"Aw does Fweddie have a cwush?" Thorn said as George continued to laugh and Fred continued to grow redder. They were walking through the halls looking for their two friends now.

"Shut up!" Fred finally said. "I don't have a crush on him, he's just fun to prank."

Thorn and George laughed. "Oh chill out. We're just kidding Fred," George said.

"Yeah. Come on, I see Lee down the hall," Thorn said running towards the boy with dreadlocks.

"Hey, Lee," Fred and George said.

"Fred, George, hey. I was just looking for you two. Hey Thorn," Lee said waving to the three.

"Hi, Lee," Thorn said when they reached him. "Have you seen Leila?"

"No sorry. Hey, do you want to pull a prank or go outside?"

"How about a prank?" George said.

"Do you ever get tired of pulling pranks?" a voice called out.

The four Gryffindors turned around to see Leila and Jacqueline walking down the hall carrying.

"Hey Leila, there you are. We were just about to look for you," Thorn said walking up to her friend. "Hey, Jacqueline."

"Hey Thorn. Sorry I've been keeping Leila in the library with me. I needed someone to help me study for our last exam," Jacqueline said.

"Well enough with studying. How about we go outside," Lee suggested.

"Yeah it's such a nice day out to spend it inside," Thorn said.

"Okay," Leila said as she put a book in her bag.

"Aw fine," Fred said. "I had a bunch of stink bombs and other things I wanted to use before school ended."

"Oh boo hoo," Thorn said with a smile. "Get over it. We have a week at school left. Now come on. I want to go to that tree outside and take a nap."

"Alright, lets go," Lee said.

The six first years walked outside and up a hill to the tree Thorn had found at the beginning of the year. When they reached the tree Thorn dropped her stuff and fell onto the ground in the shade.

"Good night," she said closing her eyes and quickly drifting off into a dreamless sleep.

"I don't think I've ever seen Thorn this calm before," Lee laughed as he sat on the cool ground flicking at the grass. Fred and George chuckled at the comment.

"Thorn told me that she had been studying every night for her final exams," Leila said, also sitting against the tree's trunk. "I think she um said she only got about two to three hours of sleep each night."

"Wow, I was wondering why Thorn looked so tired," Fred said, watching a leaf fall off a branch and float with the breeze.

The group discussed what they thought of and how well they did on their final exams, excluding Thorn who was fast asleep. It was two hours later when Lee's stomach growled.

"I'm hungry," he said looking at his growling stomach.

"No really?" George said laughing.

"Wouldn't have guessed," Fred said also laughing.

"I'm pretty hungry too," Jacqueline said standing up. "Someone should wake Thorn up."

"Why not you?" George said.

"You three are closer," she stated.

"But you're standing up," he shot back.

"I'll do it," Fred said, getting up from his spot. He walked over to Thorn and shook her shoulder. "Hey Thorn wake up. We're going to dinner."

"Uh...," Thorn groaned swatting at him.

"Thorn, wake up," he said, shaking her shoulder again.

"I want to sleep!" she whined, glaring at him as she sat up.

"Come on we're going to dinner," Lee said. "You can sleep there."

"Fine," Thorn whined as she gathered up her things and followed the others.

"You've got some grass in your hair," Fred pointed out to Thorn.

"Thanks," she said as she undid her braid and picked the grass out.

"Any plans for the summer?" Lee asked everyone.

Fred and George thought for a moment, looked at each other and then turned to Lee and said, "Nope."

"Not that I know of," Leila said.

"Same," Jacqueline said.

"I don't know either," Thorn said, now braiding her hair.

"Same here," Lee said.

"We should get together over the summer," Fred said as they walked through the doors to the Great Hall.

"Maybe, I don't know," Leila said. "I'll see you guys later," she said walking with Jacqueline over to the Hufflepuff table taking a seat with Cedric.

"I see open seats by Angelina and Alicia," Thorn said and walked over to them. "Hey, guys!"

"Hey," the two girls greeted.

"You guys relieved that finals are over?" Alicia asked.

"Thrilled," George said sitting down between Thorn and Fred.

"They were brutal," Lee said sitting next to Angelina.

"Yeah they were," Alicia said, eating some chicken.

"I can't wait until I see my parents again," Angelina said.

"Same, but it's sad to know that the year is over," Thorn said, doing her usual routine of piling some food onto her plate.

"Yeah...," they all said solemnly.

"But hey, we still have six more years," Fred said, trying to brighten everybody's spirits.

"That's true," Angelina said with a smile. "And that means we'll see each other every year."

They talked and ate until their bellies were so full of delicious food that the group left the Great Hall to go to their common room.

"I'm heading off to bed," Thorn said, already walking up the stairs to the girls' dormitory.

"Okay good night," Fred, George, and Lee said.

"That's weird, usually she stays up a lot longer than this before going to bed," Alicia said.

"Yeah she's right," Patricia said. "Is Thorn alright?"

"She's fine," Fred said. "Leila said us that Thorn's been up every night studying for her exams."

"So what are you girls doing over the summer?" Lee asked his earlier question to the remaining Gryffindors.

"We don't know," Angelina answered for them. "We were talking about that during dinner before you guys came."

"What about you guys?" Alicia asked.

"We don't know either," George said.

"Well let's keep in touch at least," Angelina said.

The Gryffindors spent the rest of the time talking until they all went to bed.

"We should get together with Thorn and Leila," George said as he and Fred were getting ready for bed.

"Yeah," Fred said. "We need to show Leila everything about a wizard family."

"Dad will enjoy talking to her about Muggles," George said defending himself as Fred laughed.

"Although, she'll probably freeze on the spot. She is pretty shy," Fred pointed out. "Well g'night, Georgie."

"Night, Freddie."

ooOOoo

Dear Fred and George,

_We can't wait to see you two, Percy, and Charlie. Ginny and Ron are excited to hear all about the rest of your time at Hogwarts. How is everything? How did you both do on your exams? Did you study? You better have, I do not want to hear that you did terrible. By the way, Percy has been sending us letters saying you hid all his underwear for a week. Really boys? Well enjoy your last few days at Hogwarts. Your father and I are proud of you and can't wait to see you. We love you._

_Love_ _Mum_

Fred and George were at the Gryffindor common room on the third day of their last week at Hogwarts reading the letter their mother sent them.

"How well do you think you did, George?" Fred asked his brother.

"I thought I did pretty well on most of my exams," George said. "How about you?"

"Same," the first twin responded. "Thank goodness we decided to study."

"I know right?" the second twin said. "Or else we would have gotten an ear full from Mum. What should we say to her in our letter?"

"How about 'We miss you too. Tell Ginny and Ron we'll be bringing them one of Dumbledor's hats'? The teachers keep track of how many extra books they have so why not. It'll annoy them."

"Mum won't like that. And how about 'We did well on our exams and studied 'til we couldn't see straight.'"

Each twin took their turn writing what they wanted to say then sealed it up and sent their owl away.

"Now that that's done," George said. "What do you want to do?"

"Find our dear brother Percy for one last makeover of the year?" Fred suggested, grinning evilly.

"Oh no you don't," Thorn said as she led Leila through the entrance into the common room. "You're not putting bows in his hair again are you?"

"Why not?" they asked.

"Because it's stupid," she said. "Sorry, I'll go along with any prank but ones that are on your older brother. Plus I'm pretty sure he's figured out it's you two."

"Ha! There's no proof that it's us," George said. "Right, Leila?"

"I-I don't want to um get involved in this," Leila said as she sat down in one of the large chairs, pulling a book out if her bag.

"Oh come on, back us up here, Leila," Fred said only to have Leila shake her head and continue reading

"Whatever. So what do you guys want to do today?" Thorn asked, sitting on the ground in front of Leila. As Fred was going to speak a rush of white and brown feathers came towards them from the window.

"Oh hello, Riley," Leila said stroking the tiny owl that was perched on George's head. George resisted the urge to bat the bird away.

"Um Leila? Do you mind getting your bird the off me?" George asked, trying to stay still.

Leila put her arm out which Riley hopped onto sticking out his leg showing a letter tied to his leg. The twins leaned forward to see it, but Riley squeaked at them happily before affectionately nudging Leila then flying away.

"Who's it from?" George asked.

"My parents," Leila replied with a big smile than normal. "My little brother Simon's a wizard they think."

"Oh that's nice!" Thorn said excitedly. "How do they know?"

"He made a book disappear out of my mum's hands," the blonde said, reading over the letter again.

"That's awesome. How old us he?" Fred asked, looking over her shoulder with George as they tried to read the letter.

"Six. So um...what do you want to do?" Leila asked the three.

"Don't know. What I do know is that I'm hungry," George said, Fred nodding in agreement.

"We already ate slow pokes," Thorn giggled.

"What?" the twins said.

"Leila and I went to breakfast already while you guys laid about in bed like the lazy boys you are," Thorn explained.

"W-we were about to go outside, but we decided to see if you were um awake yet," Leila said. "You can go eat if you want."

"Fine then, abandon us," Fred said, pretending to be sad.

"Okay, see ya," Thorn said as she stood up and grabbed Leila's hand, who looked worried at Fred after his little comment. Leila gave a quick wave before the two of them left.

"Did they seriously just leave?" George asked, he and Fred staring at the common room entrance the girls just walked out of.

"Yep," Fred replied.

ooOOoo

"Hey guys," Lee greeted once the twins left to the Great Hall. "I've got some ideas for some pranks today."

"Really?" George asked. "What do you have in mind?"

"Decorating Filch's office and turning Mrs. Norris pink."

"That would be hard to do," Fred said thoughtfully, putting a hand under his chin. "It's the perfect challenge."

"We're in!" Fred and George exclaimed as the three walked down a hall.

When the three masterminds were done eating they walked through the halls to go outside, all the while devising their plan.

"I think we should do it at night," George said. "We can get him when he's doing his rounds."

"Yeah that's a good idea," Lee said as they walked outside. "We should also split up, that way one group puts the decorations in his office and the other group distracts him in the halls. We can use the secret passages for that part."

"But there's only three of us," Fred pointed out. "One of us would be by themselves."

"Hmm you're right. Well what if we asked Thorn?"

"Ask me what?" Thorn asked.

The three boys had been absorbed in their conversation that they hadn't realized they reached the tree where they usually hang out outside.

"Hey, Thorn," Lee said. "Do you want to come with us tonight to do a prank? You too, Leila."

"W-what are you guys pl-planning on doing?" Leila asked worriedly.

"We're going to decorate Filch's office and somehow turn Mrs. Norris into a pink. It's the perfect challenge for master pranksters like us," George said with a wink.

"Count me in!" Thorn said at the same time Leila quietly said, "No thank you."

"Aw come on, Leila. Can't you agree to come with us?" Thorn pleaded.

"B-bu-but the last time I-I went with you w-we almost got caught," Leila said nervously.

"Yeah, but we didn't," Fred said.

"B-b-b-but-"

"Please, Leila," Thorn whined, sticking her lower lip out.

The twins and Lee caught onto Thorn's game and copied her face. Leila tried to look away, but fiddled with her robes feeling the three's gazes. Her face began to turn red.

"I-I-I um I...," Leila said flustered, looking from one Gryffindor to the next. "I don't know!"

"Are you sure you don't want to come?" Lee asked.

"Alright, alright," Thorn said sighing. "I just wanted to do something fun with you, Leila...," she trailed off, looking at the blonde from the side.

"M-maybe...," Leila said slowly. "I'd rather not though."

"Sweet!" Thorn said cheerfully. "I will take that as a yes."

"No I-," Leila said confused.

"Just kidding," Thorn said with a laugh.

"But if you do decide you'll have to meet us at the Gryffindor common room entrance," George said with a wink.

"I think since we are decorating Filch's office we should decorate Snape's as a farewell present," Thorn suggested.

"Good idea," the twins said.

"He could use some color in his dull office," Lee said smirking.

"Hey guys!" Cedric said as he walked up to the group at the tree.

"Hey, Cedric," Thorn greeted. "What's up?"

"Not much, just left the library and ran into you," he said. "Hey, Leila, what did you think of Professor Binns' exam?"

"I-I thought it was pretty challenging," Leila began. "I just hope I passed..."

"I know what you mean," Cedric said nodding. "It's kinda hard to stay awake in his class. So you guys excited to go back home?" Cedric asked after seating himself on the ground.

"Yes and no," came Thorn's response.

"Enlighten me," Cedric said smiling, intrigued on the female Gryffindor's answer.

"Well I said yes because I can't wait to see my parents, but I'm sad to be leaving Hogwarts and I don't know if I'll see any of you over the summer."

"Ah I see what you mean," Cedric said. "Yeah it's pretty sad to be leaving a place you've spent a year at making friends, learning, and living in."

"And on that sad note," Fred said. "Let's get to class."

"Good idea," Lee said.

The group of six walked to Potions class discussing possible things they are going to be doing over the summer. For the rest of the day the group spent their free time together or relaxing in a quiet spot. That night the five pranksters put confetti bombs in Filch's office. They got back to their beds without running into Filch and fell asleep thinking about how their prank would go and how the two adults would react.

ooOOoo

Finally it was the day everyone would leave Hogwarts. For some it would be forever while others still had years to look forward to. All the students were bringing their things to the station at Hogsmeade. Thorn was walking with Leila, Fred, and George. Her heart was aching, thinking about leaving her second home and not being able to see her friends over the summer.

"What's the matter, Thorn?" Leila asked, noticing Thorn's melancholy expression.

"It's sad thinking we're leaving," she said.

"Don't worry. It's not over," Fred said.

"He's right and we can still keep in touch," George said with a smile.

"They're right," Leila said also with a sad face. George gave her shoulder a gentle push making her blush and smile a bit.

"You guys are right," Thorn said, nodding her head. "It's not goodbye forever. We still have so many years left."

The four got on the train and watched as Hogwarts disappeared in the distance, ending for the year.

**I hoped you liked their first year. Next is their second year and after that is their third year which means the fun actually starts once Harry, Ron, and Hermione come along!**

**I will be gone all weekend for a regional winterguard competition in Tennessee (wish me luck!) so I won't be able to post chapter 6, but I decided to treat everyone with this chapter before I leave. I will be working on chapter 6 and 7 on the car trip up there. **

**Well so long until I return. And I am about to go see Oz the Great and Powerful with some friends! I hoped you liked it. Look me up on tumblr and leave a review. Thank you! (Haha that rhymes)**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Diagon Alley was crowded with wizards and witches alike. Families ushering their children into stores or out of the way of hurried shoppers. Thorn Fernsby was looking around the street for her parents as pedestrians pushed and shoved their way past her.

"Great," she groaned. "I lost them." She stood on her toes trying to see over the crowd, but for a twelve year old, it didn't work out too well. Thorn groaned. "This is annoying. I need to make sure we don't get the same school supplies," she said looking at her list. Just then a huge crowd of people walked out of a store and knocked Thorn backwards. Only she didn't hit the concrete street, a pair of arm's caught her before she hit the ground.

"How come whenever we meet, someone's about to get hurt, gets hurt, or one of us catches you?"

Thorn looked up into a pair of shining brown eyes that were full of mischief. It was the smiling face of one of the Weasley twins. She laughed and smiled back.

"I don't know. I guess it's our way of saying hello. What do you think?" she replied.

"Maybe," he said, standing her back up.

"Thanks, George," Thorn said smoothing out her shirt.

"Wrong! I'm not George. I'm Fred!"

"Oops sorry, Fred."

"Just kidding I am George," he said with a grin. "So what are you doing out here by yourself?"

"Looking for my parents," Thorn said annoyed. "I can't find them anywhere."

"Really? But I just saw them go into the book store. That's where my family and I are," George said pointing his thumb at the store behind him. "Come on, Fred is in there, he'd be excited to see one of our fellow pranksters."

Thorn nodded followed George into the book store. Inside there were bookcases that reached from the floor to the ceiling. Kids and adults looking through the shelves for certain books, crowding the aisles between bookshelves. Thorn spotted her mother by herself in some random section looking at a book, an intrigued expression on her face.

"Found my mum," Thorn said. "Wonder what she's looking at."

"That's the magical cleaning section," Fred said, laughing as he walked up to his brother and Thorn. "Hey, Thorn. How was your summer?"

"It was fun. Quiet without you guys, but fun," Thorn joked, pushing Fred playfully.

"That's good. So you missed us then?" George said with a grin.

"Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night," she laughed.

"Fred, George, there you are," a plump woman with red hair said walking up to the three. "We need to get your books."

"Hey mum, this is Thorn," the twins said.

"Oh you're Thorn," Mrs. Weasley said with a warm smile giving Thorn a hug. "It's so nice to meet you sweetie. Fred and George have told me so much about you."

"It's nice to meet you too Mrs. Weasley," Thorn said smiling back.

"Are your parents here or are you by yourself dear?"

"My mum is over there by the magical cleaning section," she said, nodding in the direction her mom was in. "I don't know where my dad is though."

"Oh the cleaning section. I almost forgot, I need to find a book on getting grime out of cauldrons. I can meet your mother while I'm at it," Mrs. Weasley said, walking over to Mrs. Fernsby.

Thorn watched as Mrs. Weasley walked over to her mom and greeted as warmly as she did with her. The two women began talking and laughing. "Wow that was fast."

"Yeah it was," George laughed. "Come on I see our dad," he said as he led the way through the crowded book store past a group of girls gathered around a table with a book display celebrating new releases, one being a Gilderoy Lockhart book. On every cover of the book copies the cheeky face of a handsome wizard was winking at them. The younger girls seemed to swoon a little at every wink. Thorn rolled her eyes.

"Hey dad, we brought Thorn with us," Fred said when they reached the red headed man.

"Hello, Mr. Weasley," Thorn said politely.

"Hello, Thorn it's good to see you again," Mr. Weasley said. "I just saw your dad a minute ago, ah there he is."

Thorn turned around to see her dad walking towards the group, a stack of books in his hands. "Finally, I found you!"

Her dad chuckled. "You, little miss, were the one who ran off on your own while your mother and I got your books."

"Sorry, I wanted to look at the brooms," she said.

"You already have a broom. Hello Arthur. How have you been?" Mr. Fernsby said.

"Good Charles, what about you?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"Good," he replied with a smile. "Thorn, have you seen your mom? I lost her somewhere in here."

"You're losing everyone aren't you Dad?" Thorn joked, receiving a shove from her dad. "Just kidding. She's over there with Mrs. Weasley. Oh wait, they're coming over here."

"Oh that's interesting," Mrs. Fernsby said. "So you don't have microwaves?"

"No. We just use magic," Molly Weasley said.

"What are microwaves?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"A microwave is a device that you use to heat food up," Mrs. Fernsby said. "You must be Arthur Weasley. I'm Lucille Fernsby," she said, extending her hand.

"A pleasure to meet you," Mr. Weasley said, shaking her hand. "So Muggles use microwaves to cook?"

"Well yes, but not all the time. We use them to heat up our food when it gets cold."

"Very interesting."

"Arthur have you seen Ron and Ginny?" Mrs. Weasley asked, looking around worried.

"I think they went over there," Arthur Weasley said, pointing to his right. "Ah, here they are."

A little boy and girl with red hair came running up to Mrs. Weasley. The girl tugged on her dress. "Mum, why can't we go to Hogwarts with Percy and Fred and George?" she whined.

"Ginny, I've told you, you and Ron aren't old enough," Mrs. Weasley said to the little girl named Ginny.

"That's our younger brother Ron and our little sister Ginny," George said to Thorn.

"It's nice to meet you," Ginny said politely while Ron nodded his head.

"You too," Thorn said, smiling.

"Okay boys," Mr. Weasley said. "We need to find your books."

"Alright, Dad," the Weasley twins said.

"I already got your books, Thorn," Mr. Fernsby said to his daughter.

"Aw now I don't get to have fun looking for them," Thorn said, feigning disappointment. "Oh darn."

"Well I'm glad you feel that way," her dad said. "I'm sure the Weasleys could use some help finding their books."

Thorn's face fell, "What?"

"You heard him, Thorn," Fred said, grabbing her arm.

"Come help us find our books," George said, grabbing her other arm.

They began dragging her away backwards with her saying, "Wait! Wait! I don't want to go look for books. Help me!"

"Thorn?" a quiet voice said.

The twins turned around as Thorn quickly stood upright the moment they let go of her arms. The three faced none other than Leila Monroe. Leila stood there staring at the three. She was dressed in a sensible dark blue jacket, black top and jeans with sneakers. For once she had her hair pulled up in a ponytail.

"Leila!" Thorn said, running to her friend, giving her a giant hug. "Thank you! I have a savior!"

"What are we, the bad guys?" the twins asked as Leila giggled and hugged Thorn.

"How was your summer?" Thorn asked Leila.

"Pretty good. I wish we could have hung out," she replied.

"Hello," Fred and George said. "We're still here."

"Hello," Leila greeted with a small smile.

"Hey," George said.

"Good to see you again," Fred said, both twins grinning at the blonde.

"You too."

"What did you do over the summer?" Thorn asked as she picked up a book on a display table, flipping through the pages.

Leila picked up a book as well, looking at the picture on the front of a dragon intrigued. "I just stayed home," she said. "I didn't go anywhere, but my little brother, Simon, kept the house alive."

"Hey, if you're shopping here, does this mean your parents are here as well?" Fred interrupted the girls' conversation.

"Over there," Leila said, nodding her head to a couple with a little boy bouncing on his feet next to them. "My dad is probably looking for my um books. Simone's been running around the store since we uh got to Diagonal Alley."

"Speaking of books," Thorn's dad said, walking up to the group. "Here are yours." He put the books in Thorn's hands with a bit of force causing her to almost fall from the force and the weight of the books.

"Geez! These are insanely heavy. I bet half of these are just torture devices," she exclaimed.

"Haha, very funny," her dad said with a smile. "Let's go pay for your books."

"Okay," Thorn said following her dad, Fred, George, and Leila following behind her.

"Oh no you don't," Mrs. Weasley said grabbing the collars of Fred and George's shirts. "You two still need to get your books."

"Yes ma'am," they groaned.

"Have fun," Thorn said, laughing.

"Th-Thorn...um," Leila began. Her face was turning red. She didn't know how to ask her friend what she wanted to ask. She didn't want Thorn to think she was dumb. "D-do you think you could um...help my family and I get our money? W-we only have Muggle money."

"No problem," Thorn said with a grin.

The two were in line with Mr. Fernsby as a mother and her son were paying for their books when someone said, "Leila, there you are."

Leila turned around to face her dad. "Hello, Dad."

"Your mother and I are ready to head to that bank down the street. We can't get your books until we exchange our money," Leila's dad said.

"I can help you if you would like," Mr. Fernsby said, walking up to Mr. Monroe.

"That would be great thanks," Mr. Monroe said. He smiled and extended his hand. "Jackson Monroe."

"Charles Fernsby. So you must be Leila's dad," he said, shaking the other man's hand.

"And your daughter is Thorn. Leila's talked about her over the summer."

"Nice to meet you," Thorn said politely.

"We just got Thorn's books so if you'd like to head over to Gringotts we can go now," he said, chuckling at Mr. Monroe's confused face. "It's the bank."

Mr. Monroe laughed as he followed Mr. Fernsby to Mrs. Fernsby and the Weasleys. They met up with Lucille, who was telling Mr. Weasley about a toaster. "It's used to hear up bread and other bread like food. You just put it into a slot and push down the lever. It takes a while to heat, but you can choose how long."

Mr. Weasley looked intrigued. "Fascinating. Amazing what Muggles can do without magic." Fred and George snickered at their dad's awe struck expression.

"Good, Thorn you're done buying your books. Let's go look for our books," Fred said, he and George grabbing her arms and pulling her away. "You too, Leila."

"Do we have to play Let's Drag Thorn Everywhere?" Thorn protested as the twins pulled her to a bookcase. Leila just smiled softly as she followed her friends.

"Yes."

Thorn groaned as they looked for the textbooks they needed. When they finally found them after twenty minutes of searching, Mrs. Weasley paid for the books and they left the book store.

"Now what?" Thorn asked. "I've got all my school supplies now."

"Same here," Fred said.

George thought for a moment before saying, "Wanna come to our house?"

"Would you're parents mind?"

"I don't think so. What about yours?" Fred asked.

"Hey mum, dad, can I go to Fred and George's house?" Thorn asked a pleading look on her face.

"I don't see why not," the two moms said.

"YES!" the three kids cheered, fist pumping and high fiving. Leila smiled bigger than usual glad that.

"Your mom and I will take your things back home. Have fun and behave," her dad said giving her a stern look when he said 'behave'.

Thorn laughed. "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm the most behaved person in the world."

Her parents gave her a look that said 'Really?'.

"Bye mum, bye dad," Thorn said shoving her school supplies in her dad's hands. "Okay let's go," she said turning to Fred and George.

"We'll bring Leila back home when she and Thorn leave," Mr. Fernsby told the Monroe's as he led them down the busy street of Diagon Alley. Mrs. Fernsby and Mrs. Monroe were chatting behind the men, talking about their reactions to the Wizarding world.

Thorn and Leila followed the Weasley's into the back of a store and stood in front of a fireplace.

"What are we doing?" Thorn asked confused.

"We're going to use Floo powder, dear," Mrs. Weasley said.

"Have you ever used it before?" Charlie asked.

"My dad has, but I've never.

"What's Floo powder?" Leila asked, perplexed as to why they were standing in front of the fireplace.

"It's a form of transportation for witches and wizards. It's not that hard, don't worry," Mr. Weasley said reassuringly. "We'll show you. Okay, Percy you can go first."

Mr. Weasley held open a bag to Percy, who took some gray looking powder out of it. He stepped into the fireplaces facing his family and said, "The Burrow," and threw the powder down. Percy was swallowed up by green fire and next thing Thorn knew he was gone to the Weasleys' home, however, Leila barely held in a scream.

"Wh-wha-wh-what ha-happened to Per-Percy?" She cried out. She took a step back, away from the fireplace. There was no way she was going to get set on fire.

"Don't worry," Charlie said. "He's alright. Percy was transported to our house."

"It won't hurt dear. Now the trick is to say your destination clearly," Mrs. Weasley explained as Charlie went next. "Would you like a try now?"

"Sure," Thorn said, walking over to Mr. Weasely and taking some of the powder from the bag as Leila shook her head vigorously. Her eyes were wide open as she watched Thorn walk into the fireplace. She covered her eyes, terrified of what she knew would come next. Thorn stepped into the fireplace and said, "The Burrow," and like Percy she threw the powder down and was engulfed in green fire. She closed her eyes tightly as she went zooming from fireplace to fireplace. When she opened her eyes she found herself in a small living room with Charlie and Percy looking at her.

"You survived," Charlie said with a grin. "Welcome to the Burrow."

Thorn stepped out of the fireplace and looked around the room. It was a cozy little room that was full of family pictures and knick knacks. Thorn smiled, she could always tell when a family was close by their home and their pictures and this family loved each other a lot.

Coughing came from the fireplace announcing the arrival of another family member. Fred stepped out of the fireplace still coughing. "I don't think I'll ever get used to that," he said as George appeared in the fireplace coughing like his twin brother.

"Same here," George said. "Leila's on her way. Our parents are trying to calm her down.

And sure enough, Leila came tumbling out of the fireplace, not only soot covering her face, but horror. She looked around shakily until her eyes landed on the three. She ran over and cling herself to Thorn's arm as she stared horror struck at the fireplace as Mr. Weasley appeared the Mrs. Weasley with Ron and Ginny.

"Are you alright, dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked, hurrying over to the trembling Leila, who only nodded in response. Ginny walked over and took Leila's hand in hers and smiled up at the blonde girl.

"Hey, Thorn, Leila, wanna see our room?" the twins asked.

They didn't even have a second to answer before the twins pushed her up the stairs to their room. They opened the door to reveal a room with twin beds and junk all over the floor.

"Organize much?" Thorn commented, making the boys laugh. Her attention turned to a nightstand between their beds. "Are those the zip ties and yo-yo I gave you for Christmas?" she said pointing at the objects on the nightstand.

"You bet," George said smiling.

"We're trying to save the zip ties for 'special' occasions," Fred said, air quoting special with his fingers.

"Wow," Thorn said rolling her eyes. "And what would these 'special' occasions be?" she asked, copying Fred's air quotes.

"Zip tying Percy's bags together to the stairs' railings," George said, grinning evilly.

"Is that what you did when you first got them?"

"How'd you know?" they said, grinning.

"You guys are way too predictable," Thorn said, laughing at the twins' annoyed faces.

"We're also almost done with the fairy tales you gave us, Leila," George said.

"They're interesting. Very different from the fairy tales we know," Fred added.

"I liked Beedle and Bard book you gave me," Leila said with a small hint of pink on her cheeks, grateful that they liked her gift. "I've read it twice to Simon. He likes them."

"Fred, George. Could you go de-gnome the garden?" Mrs. Weasley asked popping her head in the doorway.

"Can't you get Charlie or someone else to do it?" Fred complained.

"Thorn and Leila are hanging out with us," George protested.

"It's your turn, now go," their mother ordered.

"Yes ma'am," they groaned as they marched out of their room and downstairs.

"Can I help?" Thorn asked as she and Leila followed the twins, intrigued as to what de-gnoming a garden was.

"If you want. It's not really fun," George said as they walked outside.

Outside was a huge open field around the house. On the edge of the house was a large garden with many odd looking plants. Fred and George walked over to the garden, kneeling down and began throwing little creatures over their shoulders while Thorn watched interested and confused.

"So how do you de-gnome a garden?" Thorn asked as she knelt down between them.

"It's simple," Fred said throwing a gnome over his shoulder. "You grab a gnome and throw it as far as you can," he said as he watched the gnome fly over the hedge.

Leila gave a squeak as she caught sight of something that looked like a potato with legs. "A-are those the gnomes?"

"Yeah. They're not very good looking and they aren't bright either. You give it a try," George said, grabbing two gnomes at a time.

"Okay," Thorn said, grabbing one of the brown, ugly gnomes. She raised her hand behind her head and chucked the gnome into the air in a large arch.

"Not bad," Fred said, shielding his eyes as he watched it fly away.

"That was probably thirty feet," George said patting her back.

Leila picked up a struggling gnome, the ugly thing kicking its legs at her. She shrieked and quickly threw it over the hedge.

"Not bad," the twins said with grins.

"Got a decent arm there, Leila," George said with a wink. "But not as good as us."

Soon the air was filled with flying gnomes that ended up landing on the other side of the hedge in a dizzy state. The three walked back into the kitchen when they were done, all tired and hungry. Thorn and Leila being the ones with scratches and bite marks all over their hands.

"Sorry about the bites," George said noticing her injured hands. "They may not be the brightest creatures, but they sure can put up a fight."

"So I've learned," she replied. "So now what do you want to do?"

"Well earlier today we were planning on creating a new bomb for pranks by combining a dung bomb with a stink bomb," Fred said as they sat at the kitchen table.

"Clever," Thorn said with an impressed smile. "But doesn't the dung bomb smell enough?"

"Yes, but with the extra stink from the stink bomb it will double in its foul stench," George explained.

"Ah," she said, nodding her head in understanding. "Let's try it out then."

"Alright. We were working on it in our room," George said, leading the way upstairs.

"Before we had to go shopping for our school supplies," Fred said, finishing his brother's sentence.

For an hour the four kids worked in the twins' room on their experiment. Of course Leila just sat to the side watching. All was quiet in The Burrow until there was a loud BOOM that echoed throughout the house. The door to the bedroom opened emitting a giant cloud of smoke with the three emerging from it coughing.

"That-didn't-go well-as we-had-hoped," George said between coughs.

"You-think?" Thorn said as Leila stood behind her coughing up black smoke.

"You-okay?" Fred asked through a cough.

"Well-I'm coughing-my lungs-out-but other- than-that-I'm-fantastic," she said looking over at the twins.

Fred and George burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" she asked, finally done with her fit of coughing.

"You should see your faces," George said pointing to a mirror on the wall.

Thorn and Leila walked over and almost shrieked when she saw her reflection. Their faces were completely black, covered in soot and their hair was sticking on end. Thorn turned to glare at the two red heads, who were still laughing.

"Stop laughing. You should see your faces," she said annoyed.

Fred and George got up and fought to see their own reflections. And just like Thorn, their faces were covered in soot and their hair was a mess.

Just then Mrs. Weasley walked up the stairs with a basket full of laundry. She nearly dropped it when she saw the four's faces. "Merlin's beard! What happened?!"

"Experiment gone wrong," the twins said slowly.

"Should have known," she said exasperatedly, shaking her head. Mrs. Weasley turned to the girls, "Oh girls I'm sorry about all this. Come let's get you cleaned up."

After Fred, George, and the girls were cleaned of the soot, Mrs. Weasley made dinner offering Thorn to stay. Thorn and Leila obliged politely and ate dinner with the Weasleys laughing through the meal. Finally it was time for the two to go and they said their goodbyes to everyone as they stood in front of the fireplace.

"Thank you so much for having me," Thorn said to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.

"It was our pleasure dearies," Mrs. Weasley said.

"Good to see you again, Thorn. Tell your father I'll see him at work," Mr. Weasley said. "It was nice meeting you, Leila."

"You too, Mr. Weasley," Leila said sweetly.

"I will. Bye Fred. Bye George," she said waving and grinning from ear to ear. "I had fun."

"See you at school," they said waving and grinning.

Thorn took some Floo powder and stepped into the fireplace. As soon as she threw the powder down, she was shot through the fireplace and found herself in her living room. Right after her came Leila. She was wide eyed again, still not use to the Floo Network.

"Good heavens!" Mrs. Fernsby shouted when she saw her daughter appear in the fireplace.

"Hi mum," Thorn said smiling as though it's normal to enter a home through a fireplace.

"What happened Lucille?" Charles said walking into the room, his hand on his wand.

"Hi, Dad," Thorn said, waving as she and Leila stepped out of the fireplace.

Her dad chuckled, "Floo powder. Should have known that's how you'd get home."

"It was pretty cool," she said. "I'm tired. I'm heading to bed. Do you want to sleepover, Leila?"

"Um I'd like to put, but um what about my parents?" she said hesitantly.

"I'll call them," Mrs. Fernsby said. "What's their number?"

Leila followed Mrs. Fernsby into the kitchen where she wrote down her home number and Mrs. Fernsby quickly called the Monroes. After getting approval from her parents, Leila followed Thorn up the stairs to her room.

"Goodnight, girls," Mrs. Fernsby said from the couch.

"I put another hammock in the tree, Thorn," Mr. Fernsby said.

"Thanks, Dad," Thorn called down to them.

"A tree..." Leila said slowly.

"Yeah. My dad enchanted the floor of my room to have a tree in the middle. I sometimes sleep up in it in a hammock. It's fun, trust me."

Leila looked skeptical at her as they stood outside the room. "But what if we fall out?"

"Don't worry. I keep them on the lowest branch."

Inside Leila looked at the tree in awe as Thorn changed into her red plaid pajama bottoms and a grey T-shirt. She handed Leila some pajamas as well and the two crawled into bed with Willow curled up next to Leila's pillow.

"Goodnight, Leila," Thorn said with a yawn. "I'm glad you got to sleepover."

"Me too," Leila said with a smile before drifting of to sleep with Willow purring softly next to her.

**Hey everyone I'm back! Our WGI Regionals went well. We got into the finals which was awesome! Well I've been back since Sunday, but I hadn't finished this chapter until Monday. I completely forgot to post this chapter until today I'm terribly sorry. **

**I also have chapter seven done and I would like to know if you would like me to post it now or next week because I've been thinking of posting a chapter weekly. Let me know :)**

**Don't forget to visit my tumblr a-thorn-in-my-side at . I'd love to hear from you. **

**Also check out my friends tumblr where she will be starting to post her awesome Harry Potter fanfic at shesaidhufflepuff :D She'll be also posting awesome drawings for the characters!**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Leila, come down here, please!" Leila's mother's voice called out from downstairs.

Leila closed Beedle and the Bard for the third time. She got up and placed the book on her white nightstand (it matched her dresser and her pale blue walls. The ceiling had an angle to it as it was where the roof slanted). It was nearing the last few weeks of summer and that meant school was starting. Leila was excited to see all her friends she hadn't seen over the summer and was excited to start classes again. But with it nearing the end of summer it also meant that she had nothing to do. Majority of the week she had been rereading Beedle and the Bard and Grimm's fairy tales. She even spent time with Simon, running around at the local park. Today, however, was a slow day, so she sat in her room reading Beedle and the Bard once again. Leila was one of those girls who never to bored of reading the same book over an over again.

Outside in the upstairs hall Leila stood at the railing looking down at her mom. "Yes, Mum?"

"Mrs. Green is here for a quick meeting for work and she brought Arnold. Do you think you can keep him company?" Mrs. Monroe asked with a smile.

"Sure," Leila said, making her way downstairs.

In the living room she found her mother sitting on the couch with Mrs. Green. Papers were spread out on the coffee table as the women rifled through them. Then on the blue fabric arm chair was Arnold slumped in it looking rather bored as the women talked. He looked up as Leila walked in the room and his face lit up.

"Hi, Leila!" he said, standing up out if the chair. "Long time no see. How have you been?"

Leila was taken off guard by the sudden chipper attitude. The first time she met him he seemed shy and reserved. Then again she did think that he was just shy only when he met people. "I-I'm doing well. How about you?"

"Fantastic. How's your summer been?" he asked as he and her walked out of the room.

Leila led him outside to their front porch where there were a few white rocking chairs that were rocking back and forth slightly due to the light breeze. Leila took a seat in one while Arnold took the chair next to her. "My summer's been good. It's been I'm boring now that its near the um end."

"Of course," he said. "You excited to start school? I don't think I've ever seen you at my school. Where do you go?"

"I uh...um I go to...," Leila stuttered. How was she supposed to tell him that she goes to a school for witches and wizards? She can't that's how. But what was she supposed to say? Her mind was completely blank as she searched her brain for an answer to Arnold's question. "I um go to Darington Academy of Fine Arts..."

"Fine Arts huh? What do you do?"

"Um I uh...can draw," Leila said, hesitating in the answer.

It wasn't a lie, she does like to draw. She's just never told anyone. Thorn and the twins don't even know that about her. Leila knew that if she said she liked to draw and paint people would ask to see some drawings and she didn't want people to judge how well she could draw. That was why she usually drew in the library, the Hufflepuff common room, or on her bed when she was alone.

"Really? That's fantastic. You must be good to get into Darington. Maybe you could show me some of your work one day," Arnold said, smiling widely at Leila.

"I um I-I don't know...," she said, looking anywhere, but at the blonde boy next to her.

"That's fine. Not everyone likes to show their stuff. I understand," he said with a kind look on his face.

Leila couldn't help but smile back. Arnold was an understanding person who didn't seem to push subjects a lot. He was also nice and easy to talk with, even if Leila barely spoke, but he was easy to hang around with.

"Hey, I have an idea. Lets play the random question game," he said, his eyes shining.

"W-what's the random question game?" Leila asked, tilting her head to the side slightly.

"It's easy, don't worry. All you do is ask a question, any question, and the other person answers. After they've answered you answer it too. Then the other person asks a question and the cycle continues. See easy," Arnold said with a laugh. "It's a great way to get to know someone."

"Oh okay. We can play," Leila said with a smile.

Arnold grinned. "Favorite color?"

"Blue."

"Mine's orange."

The two twelve year olds continued their game of questions learning quite a bit about the other and laughing at the odd questions and answers. It wasn't until three in the afternoon when the game ended because their moms were done with their meeting. Leila stood on the porch waving goodbye to Arnold as he walked down the driveway to his car with his mom.

"Bye, Leila. I had fun. We should meet again before summer's over," Arnold said, waving back with a large smile.

"I-I'm going to the park with my little brother tomorrow if you want to come along," Leila said.

"Sure, that'd be great. Bye!" he said before getting in the car and driving off.

"I'm glad you had fun," Mrs. Monroe said as Leila walked back into the house. "Arnold's a nice boy."

"He's a nice friend," Leila said as she headed upstairs.

"Do you want anything specific for dinner? We can go out. You're father and Simon are still at the soccer game downtown," Mrs. Monroe called out.

Leila thought for a moment. "What about the café we went to last time?"

"That sounds good. Be ready in an hour."

"Okay," Leila said before entering her room. She grabbed Beedle and the Bard and sat on her bed; flipping through the pages to find the place she had left off on earlier that day. She smiled as she thought of the fun she had today. Even though she was quiet and shy she still had fun with Armold. She wished he could hang out with her, Thorn, and the twins, but of course he wasn't a wizard. But that didn't stop her from spending at least some of the last few weeks of summer with a possible new friend.

ooOOoo

The last few weeks of summer flew by in the blink of an eye. Now Thorn was pushing her trolley through Kings Cross Station with her parents behind her. Willow was meowing at owls and other cats on trolleys that were being pushed by other kids, who were also heading for Platform 9 and 3/4.

"There's platforms 9 and 10!" Thorn exclaimed as she broke into a run towards the pillar that leads to platform 9 and 3/4.

"Thorn wait!" her dad called after her.

"What?" Thorn said, looking around. "Was I gonna run into someone?"

"You have to remember to make sure no one's looking before you go," he said with chuckle.

"Oh right," she said with a laugh. Thorn looked around twice and ran towards the pillar. She went through and like last year found herself on platform 9 and 3/4 with the Hogwarts Express in front of her and wizarding families and students moving about the platform getting ready for the departure. The smokestack from the train was billowing out as Thorn approached the luggage loading area.

"Okay, Thorn this time you're helping out with loading your luggage onto the train," Mr. Fernsby said as he and Mrs. Fernsby walked onto the platform.

"Yes dad," Thorn said.

After she was done loading her things on the train she began her search for her friends. There were many heads on the platform, all with different colored hair and skin which made it slightly difficult to find her friends. She pushed her way through the crowd in her search and a few times she bumped into people or nearly tripped close to falling face first into the concrete.

"Thorn!"

Thorn turned around to see Lee Jordan waving at her as he ran up to her.

"Lee!" Thorn said overjoyed to see her friend. "How have you been?"

"Great," he replied. "You excited to go back to Hogwarts?"

"Of course," she said. "Have you seen anyone else yet?"

"Nope only you so far," Lee said. "But we'll have no problem finding Fred and George, just look for two red head twins blowing something up."

Thorn laughed. "I don't doubt that."

The twi began the search again pushing through the crowd. They were looking around the platform and over the crowd when they heard: "Would you stop?!"

Thorn and Lee looked to their left and saw Percy Weasley yelling at the Weasley twins. It looked like the twins were trying to steal some from him or most likely sticking something on him that would cause either an explosion or some loud noise knowing the twins. Most likely a minor explosive object.

"That's the last time you tie zip my bags!"

"It's zip tie," Fred corrected.

Percy glared at him before he stomped off in a huff to go load his belongings on the train. His nose was in the air as he pushed his trolley away from the twins making them laugh.

"Not what you planned on happening was it?" Thorn said as she and Lee walked up to the twins.

"Lee! Thorn!" they cried high fiving them.

"How was your summer, Lee?" George asked.

"Pretty good, but Hogwarts will be great."

"Of course it will be, you'll be with us," Fred said, grinning cockily.

"Hello," came a small voice behind the three.

The four turned to see Leila and Cedric walking towards them.

"Hey, Leila. Hey, Cedric ," Thorn greeted the two with a smile.

"Hi, Thorn," Leila said hugging her friend.

"Hey, Thorn. How was your summer?" Cedric asked.

"Fun, but not as fun as this year will be," she said with a laugh.

Cedric and her began talking about their trips over the summer when Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnett came up to the group.

"Hey, guys," Alicia said hugging Thorn and Leila.

"Looks like the whole gang's here," Angelina said.

"Yep," Thorn said.

"Let's get on the train and find our compartments," Cedric said. "I think Jacqueline had gone off earlier to find them."

"Good idea," Alicia said as she followed Lee and Angelina to the train with the others.

When everyone said their goodbyes to their families the group got into their compartments and began their journey to Hogwarts.

ooOOoo

In the Great Hall everyone was awaiting the first years to walk in and begin the sorting ceremony. Each house's table full of chatter and laughter. At the Hufflepuff table Leila was sitting with Cedric and Jacqueline at the Gryffindor table Thorn was sitting with the Weasley twins, Lee, Alicia, and Angelina. The doors then opened slowly revealing a good number of first years who walked to stand in front of the High Table. Thus began the sorting ceremony.

When all the first years were sorted Dumbledore stood up and gave his usual speech and then the banquet began. Thorn, Alicia, and Angelina were talking to a first year named Katie Bell as Fred, George, and Lee were talking away about their usual ideas for pranks.

"Are you excited to start classes here?" Angelina asked.

"Yeah," Katie said. "Which teachers do you like?" she asked, looking over at the High Table where Dumbledore and all the other teachers sat eating their food.

"Well there's Professor Flitwick," Alicia said, pointing towards the short wizard at the table. "He's pretty good."

"There's Professor McGonagal. She's Gryffindor's teacher," Thorn said, motioning to the female teacher, who was chatting with Dumbledor. "She's nice, but really strict."

"Professor Sprout, the Herbology teacher," Angelina said.

"And let's not forget Snape," Fred said, joining in the girls' conversation.

"He's Slytherin's teacher," George said, pointing at the greasy black haired teacher. "Watch out, he'll take points away from Gryffindor for even the dumbest reasons."

"Really?" Katie asked, looking a bit scared.

"Yeah, so don't get on his bad side," Lee said.

"Does he even have a good side?" Fred asked, snickering.

"They would know," Angelina said to Katie. "They're the one's who get the points taken away."

For the rest of the banquet the six second years told the first year about everything they knew about Hogwarts. When the feast ended and everyone went to their common rooms they dragged themselves up the stairs to the dormitories. The girls unpacked their belongings and crawled into bed, their bellies full and all weary from the long train ride. Tomorrow would be the start of their second year.

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter. I thought that I should have a bit of a casual chapter with Arnold and Leila and introduce Arnold a bit more than what was given of him in the Christmas chapter. I hope you liked it. I would have posted yesterday but I had a winterguard competition. Our team got first place! :D **

**Check out my tumblr blog a-thorn-n-my-side. Also check out the poll on my profile on here :)**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The first week of their second year was slow and tiring with mountains of homework. It was a Saturday which meant no classes. Thorn, Leila, Angelina, Alicia, Jacqueline and Katie were walking down one of the many staircases heading to the Great Hall for lunch.

"I am so glad it's finally the weekend," Katie said. "I've had way too much homework this week."

"Me too," Angelina said. "I'm exhausted."

"I was up 'til three in the morning working on an Herbology essay," Alicia said.

"Have you done all your work yet?" Thorn asked everyone.

"Most of it," Angelina said.

"I have to finish an essay for History of Magic," Katie said.

"Haven't started," Alicia said grimly.

"I'm done with it all," Jacqueline said.

"Should have known," Thorn said laughing. "You're too smart for us, Jacqueline. How are you not in Ravenclaw? You're always a step ahead of us in work."

Jacqueline snorted. "I may be a nerd when it comes to finishing work, but I'm not that smart like the brainiacs in Ravenclaw."

"Bye guys," Leila said as she and Jacqueline headed for the Hufflepuff table and took a seat with Cedric.

"See ya," the other four girls said as they went to their table.

"Hey, guys," all four girls said to the Weasley twins and Lee when they reached the Gryffindor table.

"What's up?" Angelina said as she sat next to Lee. Katie took a seat next to George as Thorn sat between the twins and Alicia sat next to Angelina.

"Eating," Fred said through a mouth full of bread.

"No duh, Captain Obvious," Thorn said as she filled her plate with a turkey leg, mashed potatoes, carrots, and a slice of cake.

"Captain Obvious?" he said, giving her a quizzical look.

"It's a Muggle phrase that basically means 'obviously I see that' goof," she explained with a laugh.

Fred flicked her forehead. "Be nice little girl or else you might find a dung bomb with your clothes."

"Try it and you'll wake up in the lake with the giant squid," she said, pointing her fork at his nose to where he had to go cross eyed.

"Nice face, Fred," Alicia said with a giggle. "Have you been thinking too hard again."

It took Fred a few seconds to understand what Alicia meant then he shouted, "Hey!" which caused the whole group to erupt in laughter.

"Are you guys going to try out for Quidditch this year?" Angelina asked.

"Yeah we are!" George exclaimed. "Fred and I have been waiting all year for it!"

"I'm going to see if I can be the new commentator," Lee said. "The last commentator last year was a seventh year so obviously he isn't here anymore."

"That'd be fun," Alicia said.

"I don't know," Thorn said thoughtfully. "I'd love to fly around on a broom. My dad got me a broom for Christmas last year, but I don't know if I'll be any good."

"Don't say that," Alicia said. "You never know until you try."

"She's right," Fred said. "Besides, Charlie's the Quidditch captain, we'll put in a good word for you," he said with a wink.

"Yes, Fred that helps a lot," Thorn said sarcastically, rolling her eyes with a small smile.

"Hey, you never know," he said.

"Are you guys going to try out?" George asked Angelina and Alicia.

"Yep," Alicia said. "We really want to be Chasers."

"What position do you hope to be?" Angelina asked.

"Beaters," the twins said.

"My dad was a Chaser," Thorn said. "I think I'll try out for that, if I decide to try out," she said, looking at the twins."

"We'll force you to try out," George said. "Don't worry."

"Great," Thorn said with a laugh

ooOOoo

After lunch Leila, Jacqueline, Thorn, Fred, George, and Lee walked through the halls. Thorn reached for something at her side only to grasp nothing. She looked from side to side only to find nothing there.

"Oh no! I left my bag in the Charms classroom!"

"It's Saturday. How did you leave your bag in the Charms classroom?" Lee asked confused.

"I was asking Professor Flitwick a question earlier today," she said. "You guys go on ahead outside; I'm going to get it."

"Okay," Leila said, giving a small wave. "See you in a bit."

Thorn ran through the halls in search of the Charms classroom. Many of the paintings were telling her to slow down while some children in them started running alongside her. She was going up one of the staircases when it jerked and began to move.

Thorn groaned. "I'll have to find another way through this hall." She walked through the hall looking around her.

She passed a suit of armor when she saw a door that she had never seen before. In fact she didn't think she'd ever been in this hall before. Thorn walked to the door and peered inside. It was an empty classroom filled with cabinets, desk, books, all sorts of regular classroom furniture pushed against the walls. In the back of the room stood a tall mirror with a golden frame.

_What's that?_ Thorn opened the door and walked in until she stood in front of the mirror. At first she just saw her reflection with the same curious face she wore. Then to her surprise it changed. Her reflection smiled and waved at her then put her bag on her shoulder. "Whoa!" Thorn exclaimed. Then she remembered. "My bag!" She turned around to the door, running through it Thorn couldn't help thinking, _I have to tell Leila, Fred, and George about this place. They'll love it._

ooOOoo

Outside Leila, Fred, and George were sitting in the shade of the tree. A small breeze blew past them adding to the already cool weather.

"Thorn's taking a while, isn't she?" Leila said, looking over to the castle entrance waiting for the brunette to come through.

"Yeah," Fred said. "Jacqueline and Lee already left to go finish work."

"Hey, look," George said. "Here's Thorn."

The other two looked to where George was looking and saw Thorn running across the field towards them. She reached them out of breath and her hair slightly a mess.

"A-are you alright, Thorn?" Leila asked.

"You-guys-have-got to-see this," Thorn said while catching her breath.

"Repeat that," George said.

"Slowly," Fred said.

Thorn's breathing went back to normal after a few minutes then she said, "You guys have to see this. It's brilliant!"

"See what?" Fred and George said together.

"What are you talking about?" Leila asked.

"Just follow me," Thorn said.

She led the others through the school trying to remember which way she went. She began to get frustrated, hoping she could find the room again. They were on the stairs waiting for it to move for five minutes until finally it moved and they were facing the hall Thorn was in.

"I've never seen this hall before," Leila said, looking around at all the tapestries, paintings, and suits of armor.

"We haven't even been down here before," George said as he and Fred looked around and behind things for any secret passages they may have missed.

"Is this what you wanted to show us?" Fred asked, looking behind a tapestry.

"No it's in one of these classrooms," Thorn said.

She found the door and pushed it open, motioning for the other three to follow. When they walked in Leila, Fred, and George looked around confused.

"It's just an old classroom with mirror," Fred said not very impressed.

"Come here. Look in the mirror."

"Why?" George asked.

"Because when I was looking for my bag I ended up in this hall and I found this room. I looked in the mirror and my reflection had my bag and it reminded me that I was looking for my bag."

"So," Fred and George said.

"I think this mirror reminds you of something you forgot," Thorn said as Leila inspected the mirror.

"Like a remembrall?" Leila asked, curiously looking at the language at the top of the mirror stepping closer to see the inscription.

"I guess," Thorn said.

"Well the mirror at least shows you what you forgot unlike a remembrall," Fred said.

"Too bad we can't shrink the mirror to fit in our pocket."

Leila gasped. "I-I don't th-think this mirror shows you what you forgot," she said slowly, wide eyed.

"Are you okay, Leila?" George asked, walking over to her.

"What do you see?" Thorn asked as she and Fred walked up to her as well.

"I-I see myself older." Leila said gapping at her reflection. "I'm working at a hospital. I'm…a doctor...like my dad. But I'm wearing robes." Leila glanced at the twins blushing. "Um…I'm so…tall."

"What?" Fred and George said.

Leila fidgeted with the hem of her robes blushing and smiling. "I think this mirror shows us the future."

"Let us see," Fred and George said as Leila moved over for them.

"No way!" Fred exclaimed, staring at his reflection now.

"What do you see?" Thorn and Leila asked.

"We have our own joke shop," George said.

"And it's popular," Fred said.

"A joke shop?" Leila queried.

"This is brilliant," George said.

"I'll say," Fred said. "Let's see what your future is like Thorn."

"Okay," Thorn said as she took her place in front of the mirror. She stood wide eyed in shock at what she saw. Thorn saw herself grown up, smiling and waving back at her. Then a shadowed man walked up to her putting his arm around her. They looked at each other with affectionate smiles. Two small figures came running up and hugged Thorn and the man. All four looked at Thorn smiling and waving, the two little ones waving energetically.

Is this...my family? Thorn thought. Am I really going to have a family?

"Thorn?"

Thorn broke from her thoughts turning around to see Leila, Fred, and George looking at her worried and confused.

"Are you alright?" Leila asked, walking up to her. "Y-you looked scared."

"What did you see?" George asked.

"I saw myself older," Thorn said still getting over the image. "And I think I had a family."

"That's it?" Fred asked, looking disappointed.

"What did they look like, Thorn?" she asked, giving her full attention to the brunette.

"I don't know," Thorn said sadly. "They were just dark figures." She smiled. "I always worried that I'd never get married, stupid really, but I've always wanted a big family and so now I know I will."

"Wonder why you couldn't see their faces," George said.

"Maybe...it wanted to keep it a surprise," Leila said. "Something for her to find out on her um own."

"That sounds reasonable," Thorn said.

"Can we go back outside?" Fred asked. "I don't think we're supposed to be in here and for once I don't want to investigate further." George nodded in agreement.

"I never thought I'd see the day you two didn't want to cause trouble," Leila said, looking at the twins with a giggle.

"Hey," Fred said with a grin. "Someone's got a sense of humor. a good one at that."

"Well live up the moment because it won't happen again," George said with a laugh.

The four friends left the classroom feeling a bit more excited about their futures, never to see the mirror again. Although Thorn tried to look for it again that year and found the classroom she was never able to see the mirror again, figuring that Dumbledor had it moved to a different classroom. Or ever know what the mirror's abilities truly were.

**I hope you liked the chapter. I thought it would be fun for the four to find the Mirror of Erised, but never know what it really showed them. And I wanted to give a glimpse at a possibility of the four's futures. :)**

**My tumblr account a-thorn-n-my side (that is the URL in is spelled n on accident. Too late to change it). It is open for any questions you want to ask and to look at Harry Potter things. :D**

**I have been curious for a while to see who everyone thinks will end up together so I made a poll with four options of three couples. I'd like to see what my fabulous readers think the couples for the story will be. Can't wait to see what everyone thinks.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Here's chapter nine. I wanted to post this before I went to school today because right after third period I am out of here for spring break! I hope you enjoy both the chapter and your own spring breaks! :D**

Chapter 9

It was a pretty bad day to be outside. Wind howled and rain drizzled over the castle and its grounds. However, that didn't stop the Gryffindor's Quidditch team try out.

Everyone who was trying out stood in a line huddled together trying to stay warm and hide from the wind. Angelina and Alicia were scrunched together while Thorn stood between Fred and George, pulling her jacket tighter around her.

"All right," Charlie Weasley shouted over the wind at the possible new recruits. "We are looking for new Chasers and Beaters for the team. Here's what I want: any of you trying out for Chaser, over there," he pointed to his left. Thorn, Angelina, and Alicia moved to where Charlie indicated with three other Gryffindors trying out.

Thorn looked around as Charlie grouped all the students trying out. Then up in the stands she saw Leila, Jacqueline, and Cedric trying to keep themselves warm in the stands wrapping their scarves and coats closer around their bodies against the wind.

_Knowing Jacqueline she must have dragged them to come to see us try out._ Thorn thought as she waved at Leila who waved back. Jacqueline waved too just as energetic as usual.

"Okay Chasers, you're first!"

Thorn, Angelina, Alicia, and the other three played a mini game with each other. Thorn passed and scored the quaffle pretty well, she didn't do great, but she didn't do terrible at least. She knew she wouldn't get on the team, Angelina and Alicia were doing well. But Thorn had practiced Quidditch with her Dad for a while so she thought there might be a chance for her. She watched as Fred and George beat the bludger towards opposing team members and away from their team member superbly. They were so lively and aggressive as they did so. When everyone had tried out Charlie put them all back in line and began addressing them.

"You all did really well, but only a few of you will make it on the team," Charlie said. "Our new Chasers are Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnett, and Thorn Fernsby."

Everyone clapped as the three girls hugged each other. Thorn was surprisingly shocked to hear her name be called. She had actually made the Quidditch team. She couldn't wait to tell her Dad.

"We did it! We made the team!" Angelina said, jumping up and down.

"I know! I can't believe it," Thorn said as she jumped around with , Alicia, and Thorn walked over to stand next to Charlie who announced, "Our new Beaters are Fred and George."

Everyone clapped as the twins high fived each other and stood next to their brother and the girls. After Charlie congratulated them for making it and thanking the others who didn't make it for auditioning he dismissed everyone.

"Good job, Thorn," George said as he, Fred, Thorn, Angelina, and Alicia helped put the equipment away. "We knew you could do it did we not Freddie?"

"Yeah, we thought you did great," Fred said.

"Yes you guys did. Thank you for forcing me to try out," Thorn said, sticking her tongue out.

"Our bad," the twins said, grinning.

"You forced her?" Jacqueline said, walking up to the group Cedric and Leila behind her. "Should've known."

"Hey, how about you three try out for Hufflepuff's team," Fred suggested.

"I'm actually planning on trying out as well. I don't know what position I want, but I'd like to play for Hufflepuff," Cedric said as he tried to cover his chuckling as Leila as she shook her head rapidly.

"I don't think so," Leila said quickly. "I-I don't think I'm re-really an athletic girl."

"You never know," George said. "Can we go to lunch now? I'm cold and hungry."

"Agreed," everyone else said.

ooOOoo

At lunch they ate a variety of food that warmed them up quickly. They all talked and joked around, as they do every day. Fred, George, and Lee were throwing bits of bread at Percy who was ways down the table. The girls shook their heads as they watched the boys. Then Percy got fed up with them and he threw a whole roll straight at the twins which hit George on the head and bounced onto Fred's head. Everyone burst out laughing.

"That was awesome!" Kate said through tears.

"Brilliant!" Angelina and Alicia exclaimed.

"Who knew Percy would throw food across the table," Lee said as he and Thorn nearly fell out of their seats.

"I know right?" Thorn cried. "You two should have seen your faces."

"Yeah yeah yeah," Fred said. "It's so funny."

"Hey look the mail's here," George said, pointing towards the owls that were entering the Great Hall.

Letters and packages were dropping in front of students, sometimes sending their food flying.

"Hey there's my dad's owl, Zachary," Thorn said, spotting a dark brown horned owl with white spots on its wings. Zachary dropped a letter that fluttered down onto Thorn's lap, then he landed on her shoulder. "Here you go Zachary," she said, giving him a piece of bread which he took gratefully and went off. She opened the letter and read:\

_Dear Thorn,_

_How did Quidditch try outs go? You said that Fred and George forced you to try out? Tell them I said good job, you wouldn't have tried out if they hadn't. You're too lazy. (Just kidding.) Have a great year._

_Love, Dad._

"I better tell Dad that I got on the team," Thorn said, smiling as she tucked the letter back in its envelope.

Fred and George grinned. "You're welcome!"

"I'll write him back later," Thorn said standing up.

"Where are you going?" Fred and George asked.

"I'm going to the common room. I'm still cold after the try outs so hopefully the fire will warm me up. Plus I haven't taken care of Willow. She needs to be fed," she said and walked out the doors.

ooOOoo

"Done," Thorn said, putting down her quill. She was curled up on one of the large chairs in the common room. The fire roaring and warming her up from the inside out; Willow curled up in her lap, content as ever.

"What do you think Willow?" Thorn held the paper so Willow could see. The cat looked at the paper blinking its grey eyes before she let out a happy meow and laid her head back down.

"Good, me too," Thorn smiled, petting her little brown cat. "And it's only two in the afternoon." She stretched her arms over her head and stretched out her legs, to the annoyance of Willow, who lost her comfortable seat in her owner's lap.

Thorn picked up Willow while standing up then placing her back down in the chair. "I'll be right back Willow," she said as she sealed the letter in its respective envelope. She walked past other Gryffindors, who were sitting around the fire as she left the common room.

Thorn was about to walk out through the entrance when she and someone else collided knocking the letter out of her hands and them to the ground.

"Sorry," they both said. They looked at each other and saw who they had run into.

"Sorry, Fred," Thorn said.

"No it's my fault," Fred said.

The two bent down to pick up the letter only to bump heads a bit too hard.

"Ow," they groaned, holding their heads.

"Sorry," Fred said.

They bent down again to pick up the letter, but hit heads again.

"I'm really sorry, Thorn," Fred said, still holding his head as he picked up her letter. As he grabbed Thorn's letter he noticed the name on the top one. "So you wrote your letter to your dad?" he said handing it to her.

"Yep," Thorn said, taking it from him. "Thanks. I was on my way to the owlery. You wanna come?"

"Sure," Fred said with a smile.

The two walked to the Owlery talking about the first Quidditch game.

"So when's the first game?" Thorn asked, turning around to face him so she was walking backwards.

"Charlie told George and I that it's in four weeks which means we have a lot of practices ahead of us," Fred said. "He wanted us to pass the message along."

"Thanks," she said, smiling, now facing forward. "Are you nervous?"

"Nope."

"Oh brave. A true Gryffindor," she laughed.

Fred laughed. "I'll probably be nervous the day of the game. What about you?"

"A bit," Thorn said.

"Don't worry, George and I have your back," he said, grinning.

They reached the Owlery and Thorn sent her letter watching the owl gracefully fly out of the window. For the rest of the day the two did their unfinished work with George and Leila. Later on the twins pranked Percy while the girls sat back, not wanting to get involved in pranks on family members.

ooOOoo

The four weeks leading up to the first Quidditch game of the year flew by. Nothing really changed in the daily schedule for anyone. Everyone went to class, hung out with friends during free time, the Weasley twins and Lee created new pranks and played them on any poor unsuspecting students, and Thorn helped out here and there while Leila stayed off on the side. Almost every day Leila would get a letter from Arnold which she replied happily every time.

The twins, Leila, and Thorn were sitting outside at their tree with the cool fall breeze blowing past them and through the leaves. Leila was reading another letter from Arnold, smiling happily.

"What is it?" Thorn asked, looking over at the blonde girl.

"It's a letter from Arnold," Leila said.

"What's the letter say?" the twins asked.

"He's asking when am I coming back to visit, if we can hang out when I do...," she said, blushing at the twins' grins. "He-he even asked what my favorite flower is...um...

"Your favorite flower?" Thorn said, cocking her head to the side. "Why would he ask that?"

"I don't know...," Leila said.

"Really?" Fred asked.

"Probably likes you," George stated.

Leila took out another envelope with a few pictures of places and him. The places looked like a beach, a park, and an amusement park with some friends.

"What are those?" Fred said, looking at the photos.

She held out the photos towards the others. Thorn took them examining them before her face went into a smile.

"They look like pictures of stuff he did over the summer," Thorn said.

"They don't move either," George said astounded as he took the pictures and turned them over a couple of times.

"That's amazing. Why don't Muggle photos move?" Fred asked.

"They're not wizards, duh," Thorn said, sticking her tongue out.

"Right," the twins said.

"Are you going to write him back? Fred asked as Thorn explained to George what an amusement park was.

"Yeah I'll write back later," she said, stuffing the letter back in its envelope. "I-isn't today the first Quidditch game?"

Fred and George froze. "Oh crud! We almost forgot!" they said bolting from the ground up to the castle.

"I can't believe we forgot about the game," Thorn said behind the twins.

"Sh-shouldn't you get something to eat?" Leila asked.

After the twins and Thorn ate a small lunch the twins went down to the Gryffindor changing room. Thorn and Leila stayed behind for a bit before Thorn had to leave as well.

"You excited for the first game?" Thorn asked cheerily.

"I-I think it will be interesting," Leila replied as the two walked through the halls. "Who's Gryffindor up against?"

"Hufflepuff," Thorn said. "We'll crush them!"

Leila giggled. "I think Hufflepuff will win."

"Well I better catch up to the twins. Bye," Thorn said, running off.

"Leila!"

Up ahead of Leila was Katie Bell, running up to her, a rolled up paper in her hand.

"Hi, Katie," Leila said, smiling at the first year.

"You wanna head down to the Quidditch pitch with me?" she asked. "I just finished making banners with Lee."

"Sure," Leila said. "But I-I'll be with Jacqueline and Cedric in the Hufflepuff stands."

"Of course, come on, Lee went down to wish Fred and George luck and get good seats," Katie said.

"Okay," Leila said.

ooOOoo

Leila, Cedric, and Jacqueline huddled close together as the cool autumn air chilled them from the inside out. Leila was bundled up in a jacket with her Hufflepuff scarf wrapped around her and a pair of gloves on her hands. Next to her Cedric was wearing his Hufflepuff scarf as well with a black sweater. Jacqueline was clothed in a brown hoodie, also with her Hufflepuff scarf.

"I-it's cold," Leila said, shivering.

"Tell me about it," Cedric said, rubbing his hands together to create heat.

"You guys are such girls," Jacqueline said. "Man up. I'm not cold."

"Y-you're not even wearing a heavy jacket," Leila said.

"I'm never," Jacqueline said proudly.

Cedric leaned over and put his freezing fingers on Jacqueline's neck.

"Cold!" Jacqueline said, jumping out of his seat.

"Yeah you're never cold alright," Cedric said, tucking his hand in his pocket as Leila giggled.

Jacqueline glared at him. "Funny. Oh hey, the teams are walking out," she said pointing at the Gryffindor team.

"I see Angelina, Alicia, and Thorn," Leila said, pointing to the field.

"And there's the twins," Jacqueline said. "Pretty easy to spot those two."

Soon the game began and the crowd cheered as the players flew around the field. Leila couldn't remember a time she heard so many people screaming. She never really watched sports, but Quidditch was an exception. She couldn't wait for more games.

**Sorry for not much on the game I'm not good at writing for it but I promise to write for it next to. Next chapter there will hopefully be a new face that might just peak your interest (hopefully).**

**Check out my poll on my profile. I'd like to see what couples you guys think will happen. **

**Also check out my tumblr page a-thorn-n-my-side (spelled like that on the URL, just add .tumblr and dot com). Ask any questions to the characters if you want or chat with me :) I hope to hear from you!**

**Good bye for now everyone! I am off for a week with my friends in Florida! Woo! I hope you all have a wonderful spring break as well! :D Bye and leave a review please :D**


	10. Chapter 10

**Here's chapter ten. I'm posting this before I'm going onto the beach so I hope you enjoy :D**

Chapter 10

"Where's that book?" Leila mumbled, pushing books to the side of the shelf for the third time in search of the book she needed to finish her Herbology Essay.

"Looking for something, beautiful?" a voice said to her left.

Leila turned seeing a brown haired boy reading a small leather-bound book while leaning against the book shelf. He had a chiseled face with wavy brown hair that reached the tip of his ears and green eyes. On his robes was the Ravenclaw badge. The boy looked up closing the book.

"So you going to answer any time soon, pretty thing?" he asked.

"I-I-I'm tr-trying to find a um book, it-it must be checked out," Leila replied, blushing madly.

"Which one?"

"U-under Water Weeds of the um Bermuda Triangle...by Gertrude Spence," Leila said. Her eyes shifted from left to right as she looked down the aisle thinking of a possible way to escape. Her face was beat red now.

"Just so happens," the boy said, holding his book out to her. "That I'm doing the same essay as you. For Herbology, right?"

Leila took the book nodding slowly. "Bu-but it's not due for two-two weeks."

The boy shrugged looking nonchalantly, the confidence not fading even slightly. "I guess I'm just a nerd. I like getting things done quickly, and we have all of Christmas break to do it; so I won't have to worry about it when we get back. You know?" He raised his eyes and Leila gave a quick nod, understanding exactly what he meant. "I'm Drake by the way, Drake Connors." He put out his hand.

"L-Leila Monroe," Leila replied shaking his hand.

"Pretty name for a pretty girl. Oh I know you," Drake remarked, smiling. "You're friends with that Cedric Diggory guy, aren't you? You and that Jacqueline girl, right?"

Leila looked down, opening the book. "Yes. Um h-how do you know Cedric?"

"Sit next to him in Potions," he replied, nonchalantly shrugging.

"Oh...," Leila said as she found her feet to be very interesting at the moment, trying to avoid Drake's gaze.

Drake smirked. "So would you like the book then?"

Leila looked up at him with an apologetic look. "I-I feel bad taking your book. W-would you um like to share it while we both finish our essays?"

Drake smiled. "That sounds lovely, beautiful."

Leila blushed yet again. "Thanks, but um j-just call me Leila, please." She walked over to the table and made to sit down, but Drake beat her to the chair pulling it out quietly. Leila blushed for what seemed like the hundredth time as she sat down; he took the seat next to her quickly.

"Leila's nice too, although my nickname for you fits better," Drake murmured.

"Um th-thank you," Leila said, her blush reddening.

Drake smirked and the two worked in silence with him casting amused glances at the blonde while she continued to turn redder.

ooOOoo

The Hufflepuff common was filled with students who were either studying or just hanging with friends. Leila was sitting in one of the large arm chairs with her legs pulled up and a book propped up on them. Her head was buried in the book when someone pulled it away from her. She looked up and saw a somewhat angry Jacqueline.

"Spill."

Leila was taken off guard. She looked up at the girl confused. "What?"

"Why were you with Drake Connors in the library?" Jacqueline asked, taking a seat on the arm of the chair and handing her the book back. "And don't say nothing because you were with the third cutest guys in our year."

"Third?" Leila said, tilting her her head slightly, puzzled

"Yeah, don't you know who the cute guys are in our year. Most of the girls made a list. First is Roger Davies, second is Cedric, third is Drake Connors, and fourth are the twins," she said, listing them off on her fingers. "I don't really remember the rest and I didn't make the list so don't say to me that I think Cedric and the twins are cute, even though I do, but it's only a thought."

"Uh...," Leila said, staring at her friend.

"Anyways spill. Why were you with him?" she said, leaning in close to the blonde.

"I-I-I was just l-looking for a book an-and he had it so we um worked on our Herbology essays together," she said hastily.

"That's it?" Jacqueline asked disappointed. "Did he say anything?"

"N-no, but...he um kept calling me beautiful..."

Jacqueline let out a squeal that caused most of the common room to look in their direction. "He was flirting with you! I can't believe he was flirting with you!" By now she was jumping around and twirling as her friend just blushed and stared at her.

"Who was flirting with who?" Cedric asked as he walked up to the two girls. He took a seat in the chair across from them and pulled out some parchment and ink.

"Drake Connors was flirting with Leila in the library today," Jacqueline said with a grin.

Cedric stopped writing and looked at the two girls in surprise. "Drake Connors? The Ravenclaw?"

"Yes!" Jacqueline squealed.

Cedric shook his head. "I don't like him. He's stuck up and thinks he's a master at everything."

"Well duh, he's a Ravenclaw. They think they know everything because they are the smartest house."

"I've heard he flirts with almost every girl," he said as he continued to scribble on his parchment.

"So have I," Jacqueline said, sticking her tongue out. "Every girl knows he's a flirt, but they still like him."

"Well that just adds to his ego," Cedric muttered. "Why was he flirting with you, Leila?"

"I was um looking for a book and he had it so we um decided to work on an essay together...," she said cautiously.

"Hmm," Cedric said thoughtfully. "Figures he'd be working on an essay now. But you were working on it early too? Why?"

"I-I just wanted to get it done...," Leila said.

"Haven't you noticed how smart she is?" Jacqueline said with a grin. "I don't see how she's not in Ravenclaw."

"Good thing, then she wouldn't be near Drake every day," Cedric muttered.

"Oh grow up," Jacqueline said. "You're a big boy, stop complaining.

"Whatever. How about we head to lunch?"

"Sounds good to me," Jacqueline said, getting up with Cedric and Leila.

ooOOoo

"Leila," Jacqueline said, leaning over her plate of chicken. "Drake keeps looking over here."

"W-what?" Leila turned around and looked past the Gryffindor table, where Thorn waved at her, and saw at the Ravenclaw table that, sure enough, Drake was smirking at her and gave her a wink. Leila blushed as she quickly looked away.

Jacqueline squealed. "I am so jealous of you!"

Cedric rolled his eyes as he took a bite of his chicken. "Obviously whatever I say won't faze you from liking him."

"You got that right," Jacqueline said with a wink.

Cedric sighed and rolled his eyes. "Girls."

Leila looked between the two before she cleared her throat. "Um uh Cedric, you said you wanted to try out for Hufflepuff's quidditch team. W-what position are you going to try out for?"

Cedric looked up and grinned. "I'm gonna try for Seeker," he said. "It's the most important person. They have to keep a look out for the snitch and be able to catch it to win the game."

"Oh well I hope you get it," she said with a friendly smile.

"Same here," Jacqueline said with a thumbs up. "You can do it."

"Thanks," Cedric said, grinning wider.

ooOOoo

"Leila!"

Leila turned around to see Thorn running up to her with a grin on her face. She caught up to her panting and bending over her knees.

"Okay-two-things," she said, trying to catch her breath. "One-the twins-and I-are-planning on-pulling a prank-on some Slytherins later today." She stood up straight and took a few breaths before speaking again, her breathing back to normal. "We want you to come. Second I heard from Angelina who heard from Jacqueline that you were with Drake Connors today. Don't really see what's so great about him. I don't think he's bad I just don't see the point in the so called 'cute guys list'," she said, air quoting 'cute guys list'. "What were you doing with him?" she asked with a smile.

"I-I was just sharing a book with him. We-we are d-doing the same Herbology essay," she said, turning pink.

"If that's just it I don't see why almost every girl is complaining. Sure he's kinda cute, but he's just a guy," Thorn said as the two headed outside to the courtyard.

Leila just nodded as they sat down on one of the stone benches and watched as a flock of birds flew up over head. She didn't plan on studying with Drake, she just wanted to find a book for her essay and he just happened to have the book. She didn't want to be rude and take it from him so she offered to share it with him. Drake seemed nice enough so why not work with him on an essay.

"Hey, Leila, what do you want to do this weekend?" Thorn asked. "We got nothing really to do since we are second years and can't go to Hogsmeade." Leila tilted her head in confusion at the word Hogsmeade, but Thorn didn't notice. "I still have to work on my Herbology essay as well, along with a Charms essay. Want to go to the library Saturday and work on them together?"

"Sure," Leila said with a small smile. "Would you like me to help with your Herbology essay?"

"If you can that'd be-"

"Oi! Leila!"

The girls looked up to see the twins walking up to the with their bags slung over their shoulders. They waved at the girls and strode up to them past a group of Ravenclaw girls.

"So what's this we've heard of you studying in the library with Drake Connors?" Fred asked as George stood on his left.

"J-just studying...," Leila said, shrinking under the twins' gaze.

"I wouldn't get to chummy with him," George said. "He's a bit of a git."

"Why would you say that?" Thorn said, crossing her arms over her chest as she raised an eyebrow at the two.

"He acts all high and mighty just because he's in Ravenclaw," George protested.

"He thinks he knows everything!" Fred added.

Thorn shook her head. "Boys."

Fred and George glared at her. "Girls!"

Leila looked from the twins to Thorn. "Um w-would you like to um go to the tree?" she asked, her voice getting lower as the sentence progressed. She shrank as she saw the twins look at her again.

"Fine, but I wouldn't get too chummy with Connors," George said, Fred nodding in agreement as the four made their way over to they're spot.

"Just because you don't like him doesn't mean that Leila shouldn't be friends with him," Thorn argued. "What if I became friends with Marcus Flint? Would you abandon me or something?"

Fred and George looked down grumbling. "No."

"But we'd most likely beat him up," Fred said.

Thorn rolled her eyes and groaned. The twins were stubborn as ever. "You two are as thick as a troll."

The twins stick their tongues out at her as they reached the tree and basked in the sunlight.

ooOOoo

"Hey, beautiful."

Leila jumped in her seat at her table in the study room. She looked up to see Drake smirking down at her. She looked from side to side at the other students studying and found some girls glaring at her, others gawking at her, and the rest whispering to each other as they pointed towards her and Drake.

"Um hello, Drake," she said.

"Mind if I sit with you?"

"Yes. I-I-I-I mean no. No I don't mind," Leila stuttered trying to quickly correct herself as her face turned red. She hid her head behind her book as Drake chuckled takin the seat across from her.

"So what are you studying, beautiful?" he asked, leaning his chin on his hand. He had a smirk on his face as he stared at her waiting for her answer.

"Ch-Charms...," she squeaked.

Drake laughed. "Need any help? I've completed the list of spells to learn before Christmas."

"Uh sure. I-I mean if you um want to," Leila answered.

"What spell are you working on, gorgeous?"

"Why thank you!" a voice said from behind Leila. "I always did think I was gorgeous. See, Freddie, I told you I'm the better looking twin."

Leila turned around to find Fred and George with Thorn behind them coming over to the table. Thorn quickly ran over to take the seat beside Leila as Fred sat on the other side of her and George sat across from his brother, although to his disdain, and next to Drake. Drake glared at the twins, but greeted Thorn with a charming smile which she returned with her own and a wave.

"Good to meet you," he said, extending his across the table to Thorn. "I'm Drake Connors."

Thorn took his hand and shook it as she smiled at him. "I'm Thorn Fernsby."

"And I'm Forge and this is Gred," Fred said from beside Leila. He had a glare as he watched Thorn and Drake shake hands. George had an identical glare as he and his brother watched Drake closely.

"So what are we studying today, Connors?" George asked giving the Ravenclaw a smile.

Drake glared at the twins. "Charms," he deadpanned. "I thought I'd help Leila with the list of spells Professor Flitwick gave us."

"How thoughtful," Fred said. "But we came to help Leila with that as well. So you can just go back to your Ravenclaw friends."

Thorn glared at the twins as Leila looked with wide eyes. Drake on the other hand just had a glaring match with the twins. Thorn shook her head. The twins were definitely thick as trolls. If she could, she would have kicked Fred and George for acting how they are acting.

"Um I uh...I can just have Thorn help me instead...," Leila spoke up. "I-I'm pretty sure she needs help as well. We'll just go work together." She looked from one boy to the next before turning to Thorn, who stood up with a huff.

She gathered her belongings and made her way to leave.

"No, Leila," George said. "You don't have to leave with Thorn. We can help you with Charms. It's Connors who needs to leave."

"No, we'll leave!" Thorn yelled, but only loud enough for their group to hear. "You boys just end your petty fight and grow up. Come on, Leila." She walked out of the room with Leila railing behind, who gave the boys one last glance. Heads turned towards the boys for a moment before going back to studying.

Drake sighed before standing up and gathering his own things. "Well, if you two are done glaring at me I'm on my way. I'd rather be in Ravenclaw tower than spend another moment with you two. I came here to talk with Leila, but obviously you two think you own her." With that said he left without giving the twins a glance, but had a smug smile that he concealed after seeing their shocked faces, from what he didn't know. It could have been from the girls leaving or his comment to them. Either way he enjoyed their dumbfounded expressions with a laugh.

Fred turned to George once the Ravenclaw second year was gone. He gave a sigh. "We screwed up," he said, George nodding solemnly in agreement. They leaned their cheeks on their hands as they stared glumly at the wall in front of them.

I would like to say I am so sorry for all of the short chapters recently. After getting a review from Invisiblegirl3 saying that it was confusing when it skipped from winter to summer in the first year I decided to cut all the chapters I already had to create more chapters and extend their second year. Sadly I don't really know what else to write at some point during these chapters which causes them to be short. I apologize if some of you don't like short chapters. I didn't intend to but it happened. I don't hate the fact that they are short, I am honestly content, but I know some people prefer long chapters and I whole heartedly understand. But I hope you have enjoyed Thorn, Leila, and the twins' second year so far. I also hope that you liked the introduction to Drake. I thought I'd add someone else that the twins can't stand other than Marcus Flint, who I promise will come in soon (or third year. Not sure yet but it will happen. I have ideas!).

I hope to hear from you on criticism or comments. You can review, which is greatly appreciated, PM me, or ask me or the characters (like Leila, Jacqueline, and Thorn, or the twins, Cedric, and Drake) any questions on my tumblr, a-thorn-in-my-side. (A-thorn-n-my-side).

Also just found out from a friend today at school that I have been spelling Dumbledore all wrong. Never knew there was an 'e' at the end. I will be going back to fix that in the the previous chapters when I get the chance.

I hope you enjoyed and I can't wait to hear from you. Again criticism is welcomed as long as its not harsh. No one likes haters so please be nice. If you're just going to hate then go somewhere else, why read the story? To all my fabulous readers thank you so much for sticking with me so far and I hope you stick around for the entire journey.

Thank you again you all are awesome and I hope that any of you on Spring Break are having fun and being safe. But having fun ;)


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Thorn was up in the Gryffindor dorms trying for the last time to get her suitcase to close. After an hour of packing she realized all her stuff wouldn't fit quite right. Finally she jumped onto the thing squeezing it close and zipping it up. With a sigh Thorn put the large thing at the foot of her bed Willow watching her amused.

"Don't give me that look. You weren't much help." Thorn said. The cat tipped its head thoughtfully brushing a paw across its face uninterestedly before jumping down and rubbing against Thorn's legs. Thorn rolled her eyes but petted the cat before it walked off to sleep in the common room.

Thorn followed suit noticing two red heads who were chatting by the fire.

"Hello all," she said, plopping down on an empty armchair enjoying the heat of the flames.

Fred looked up first smirking. "Hey Thorn, all packed for the train tomorrow?"

Thorn nodded tiredly yawning even though it was only about one o'clock. "Yeah, bloody awful trying to get everything to fit. I left your presents in your dorms so at least I didn't have those to worry about. And Leila should be getting hers delivered by owl so that done too."

The twins looked up the stairs curious but Thorn glared at them. "Oh no. Don't open them until Christmas. If you do I'll know."

George rolled his eyes. "How?"

"I have my ways." Thorn said mysteriously. "Where's Leila by the way?"

"Saw her in the library with some bloke. It looked like it was Connors. Looked like she's studying."

"Studying?" Thorn said confused.

George nodded. "Leila's been studying in the library so she could finish her Potions homework before break with Connors," he said in disgust. "He'll most likely spend the break perfecting potions and practicing charms…deck the halls with lots of spell books..."

Thorn shrugged. "That's the Ravenclaws for you."

"So, Thorn, me and Georgie here have been talking," Fred said, a mischievous look in his eyes.

"Oh no," Thorn mumbled, sitting up warily.

"Well, Mum and Dad have already signed off but we need your parents' permission too."

"For what exactly," she said, leaning her head against her hand.

"We're going to come visit you!" The two chorused.

"When?" Thorn asked confused.

"Christmas Eve! We'll be coming to that Muggle party. We heard that Leila invited you to her house that night. We thought we'd keep you ladies company and finally meet the infamous Arnold Leila's been mentioning," George said with a satisfied smile.

"Yes, we shall all have a wonderful time," Fred said, almost pulling off the look of innocence.

Thorn smiled widely. "That's awesome."

"We know!" they said, cracking up with Thorn. The three eventually started a game of Wizard chess the twins playing against Thorn who wished Leila was there with Cedric, who usually helped her direct the pieces.

ooOOoo

"Bye you guys," Thorn called out to Angelina and Alicia as the twins said their goodbyes to Lee. She turned to see Leila getting a hug from Jacqueline who almost seemed to be crushing the petite blonde. Cedric just stood on the side chuckling. "So how will you two be getting to my house?" she asked the twins, who were walking over to her.

"We'll be taking the Floo Network," George said, leaning an elbow on Thorn's shoulder.

"Seems logical," she said, leaning her elbow on his shoulder; however she had to raise hers a bit higher since the red head was a few inches taller than her. "Then that means my dad will be driving you with me. Be prepared, he will most likely get onto the topic of Quidditch considering the fact that we're on the Gryffindor team now."

"Fine by us," they said, their eyes shining at the thought of the topic of Quidditch.

Thorn rolled her eyes as she made her way over to her dad where he was standing next to Mrs. Weasley, who had Ginny and Ron at each side of her, their necks craning to find their brothers.

"Hey, Dad, hello, Mrs. Weasley," Thorn greeted with a smile.

"Hello dear," Mrs. Weasley said, giving Thorn a hug. "Boys are you ready to go? Did you say bye to Leila over there?"

"Yes, Mum, we said goodbye already," Fred said.

"Good, now we need to go find Charlie and Percy? Goodbye, Charles, it was good seeing you again," Mrs. Weasley said with a friendly smile to Mr. Fernsby.

"Same to you, Molly," Mr. Fernsby said as he and Thorn went the opposite direction of the Weasleys. Thorn gave a quick wave to Leila who returned the wave before going to find her parents.

ooOOoo

Leila was near the verge of pulling her hair out trying to find something to wear. Her closet was strewn with clothes pushed in a half-hazard manner; in the hopes the door would close to hide the evidence. She didn't care so much about the party, which her mother was setting up for now, but about the two wizard boys and half-blood girl, wondering if they'll come dressed normally or in robes. She trusted Thorn to dress normally, but wasn't so sure about the twins. She wasn't planning on the twins to be coming, it was just going to be Thorn, but her dad insisted on meeting the twins.

Finally, Leila settled on a green dress that had lace that then flowed out from the empire waistline into a swishy confection that hit right at her knees. Putting on her small flats and pulling her hair into a ponytail Leila looked in the mirror satisfied coming down the stairs.

"So what sports do wizards plays?" Leila heard her father say from the living room.

"Well there's Quidditch. Our brother's captain for our house's team," she could hear George say politely.

"Really?" her father said intrigued. Leila just knew he would begin on his old days as a soccer player if she didn't stop him.

"Um, Dad, I think Mum needs help in the kitchen," she said, walking into the room.

Fred and George stared a moment at seeing Leila so dressed up but recovered quickly rising to greet her.

"He-hello guys," she said as they enveloped her in a hug. "I-I like your outfits."

The twins thankfully had come in dark jeans and newly knitted sweaters both dark blue with their first initial on the chest in gold stitching. Thorn was wearing a red dress that had a scoop neck and no sleeves. It reached her knees in a slight puffed out skirt.

"I explained to Mr. Weasley how Muggles dress for parties," Thorn whispered so only Leila could hear.

"Thanks. We would have come more dressed up but Dad said a long red cloak might give us away." Fred shrugged. "You look nice by the way."

"Thanks," she said with her cheeks tinged pink. "Oh um...so just to tell you we all go to um a boarding school named Darington Academy of Fine Arts. M-my mom had to tell her co-workers something so that's the cover..." Leila said.

The twins and Thorn nodded just as Leila heard the doorbell go off. She went to get it and Thorn ushered the twins to the kitchen to see if they could help Mr. and Mrs. Monroe carry out food.

Leila opened the door with a friendly smile. Standing outside was Arnold with a grin on his face.

"Hello, Arnold," Leila greeted.

"Hullo, Leila, great to see you again. It's been too long hasn't it?" he said stepping in, his mother only just now coming out of the car. "Lovely dress, very festive."

Leila smiled at him in reply.. "Thanks." She lead him away from the door and out onto the patio to let the adults have room to talk.

"So how has school been? Wish we went to school together. Maybe my mum will transfer me. I can play the clarinet. That counts as fine arts right?"

"Um, yeah?"

"Hey, Leila, I was wondering, would you, maybe, like to go out with me?"

Leila's eyes went wide as Arnold looked at her with a hopeful face. The otherwise uncomfortable exchange was interrupted by the entrance of a red headed boy. Arnold noticed him; his eyes scrunching in confusion. Sighing in relief, Leila turned to see George- at least she thought it was George- walking in with a platter of sandwiches.

"Oh, um, Arnold, this is George Weasley," she said, grabbing George's elbow to bring him to her side linking her arm in his.

Arnold looked between the two skeptically; George, feeling the tension, put out his hand.

"So, as Leila said, I'm George Weasley. I go to school with Leila."

Arnold looked at the hand a moment before taking it as other guests began arriving. "Oh, so you're her…friend?" Arnold said carefully.

Leila nodded and George grinned. "Yeah and she tries to keep us out of trouble, but sometimes it never works out." Leila blushed and George nudged her while Arnold seemed to be trying to not turn the color of a tomato.

"I see…well that's great?" Arnold said.

"Oh um, Arnold, would you like to um meet Fred and Thorn?" Leila asked remembering the spare red head and brunette.

"Oi, Fred! Thorn!" George shouted to the amusement of the parents. From the kitchen Fred and Thorn rushed out only to see Arnold there now wearing the look of exasperation.

"There are two of you?" he asked, looking from one handsome twin to the other.

Fred shared a look with George. "Usually but sometimes we like to form to create one super being call Forge. But it gets pretty dangerous so we stayed split for the time being."

Arnold stared at him for a moment incredulous. "These are the people you go to school with?" Arnold asked Leila.

"Um yes...why?" She titled her head; the twins flanking her as like body guards as Thorn stood behind her.

"These are your friends, they're ridiculous. And obviously evil," Arnold said matter of factly.

The twins smirked as Thorn stifled a laugh."What would make you say that?"

Arnold grinned now. "Well gingers don't have souls so they're like evil."

The twins' smirks fell as Thorn glared at Arnold who seemed to be glaring as well but this time at George.

"That was rude Arnold. Very rude," Thorn said.

Arnold rolled his eyes. "Sorry, should I treat her boyfriend with more respect? Or keep my distance in case he tries to suck out my soul?"

Thorn's glare faltered and Leila looked at him in surprise.

"Huh?" the blonde said.

Arnold rolled his eyes pointing an accusing finger at George. "He's your boyfriend, right?"

"Well, um…you see…yes...," Leila squeaked causing the twins and Thorn's mouths to fall open.

"Arnold, dear, can you come over here for a moment?" his mother's voice called out. Arnold huffed but complied, walking over to her as she introduced him to some of the parents.

"Leila, what was that?" Fred said as George had lost the ability to speak.

"H-he was about to ask me out when you should up! If I have um you as a b-b-boyfriend I won't have to reject him... Do you think you could um...help?" she asked, her voice squeaking on help, afraid of what George's reaction would be.

Fred shook his head as George sighed, seeing Arnold coming back. "This can only end in hysterics."

For the rest of the party the air around the four twelve year olds was tense. Especially around Arnold, who glared at George practically every minute. Leila wasn't enjoying this at all, she tried her best to act like George's girlfriend to keep Arnold at distance, but it was hard not to make it awkward between her and George. He seemed to tense whenever Arnold said the words 'boyfriend' and 'girlfriend' and Leila could tell. Now they were sitting on the back patio in a circle and Leila kept shifting her eyes from George, who was sitting stiffly, to Arnold, who was glaring daggers at the twin.

_I feel bad for using George like this. He's got to be way uncomfortable with this fake boyfriend girlfriend thing. And Arnold's not helping with the matter._ Leila thought, guilt flickering in her eyes.

"So, uh, Arnold," Fred began, breaking the awkward silence. "What do you like to do?"

Arnold took his glare from George for a moment to answer the twin's question with a bored expression. "I like to read."

"Cool," Fred said, nodding his head. "Sounds like you have something in common with someone we know."

"You talking about Cedric?" George asked his twin.

"Well who else do we know who practically lives in the library?" Fred said with a laugh.

"True."

"So um Arnold uh how has your break been?" Leila asked the blonde.

"It's been better," Arnold said glaring at George again.

George had enough. "Can you stop glaring at me?"

That not only took Arnold aback but Fred and both girls as well. The other three just stared incredulously at the red head.

"I mean really? You're mad at me because I'm Leila's...boyfriend?...," George said, stuttering on the last word.

Arnold gave him a suspicious look. "Are you really Leila's boyfriend?"

"Well, yeah," George said, still hesitating slightly.

"Prove it."

"Prove it?"

"Yes, prove it," Arnold said crossing his arms across his chest.

"How?" George asked, now glaring at the other boy.

"Kiss," Arnold deadpanned.

Thorn choked on her cider as Fred's eyes went wide as he looked at the other two. George looked like he was going to be sick and Leila's face paled.

"What?" Leila squeaked.

"If you're boyfriend and girlfriend you should be able to kiss," Arnold said matter of factly. "Unless you guys aren't boyfriend and girlfriend."

"We are...," Leila said. "But I um d-don't kiss my boyfriend when someone uh asks me to," she said, thinking on her feet for an excuse.

"'Kay, but you two do realize you're standing under mistletoe, right?" he said, pointing above them.

Leila, Thorn and the twins looked up and sure enough there was the Christmas plant hovering over George and Leila

"Mistletoe?" Leila said under her breath. She looked at George with an expression of 'What should we do?'

"Well?" Arnold said, a smirk on his face seeing the two's hesitation.

George shrugged and said in a defeated voice to Leila, "We've got no choice."

The two gathered up their courage and leaned into each other, their eyes closed. Leila could feel George's hot breath on her face before she felt his lips make contact with hers. They kissed for three seconds before they separated; both twelve year olds' faces were red when they looked each other in the eye.

Fred couldn't believe it, his mouth hanging open. _They actually kissed? I'm so holding this against George._ he thought with an evil smile.

"See," George said, his voice cracking a bit before he cleared his throat. "We kissed."

Arnold rolled his eyes. "We'll you've proven you're her boyfriend. Care to clear up something else for me ginger?"

George clenched his fists gritting his teeth but remained by Leila. "What blondie?"

"How'd you get her?" Arnold seemed curious although Leila could see an arrogant glint to his eye.

George glared. "What do you mean?"

"Well she's obviously out of your league-" Arnold glanced at Leila smirking. Leila's face turned and Thorn's mouth was hanging open in shocked anger. "So what happened? Sell your soul for the chance to get a girl?" Now Arnold was closer to George, staring up at him as if daring him to make a move. George, to his credit, hadn't budged, though his hands were shaking with the effort to not hex this boy into puberty.

George calmly looked down at the boy before saying matter of fact, "Arnold you wouldn't get Leila if you sold a million souls let alone your own. You know why? Because she's with me by choice! And she'd never choose someone who treats people like you do." George sneered down at Arnold fed up and tugged Leila away with Fred and Thorn following as they all began to walk away from the red faced boy.

"Weasley!" Arnold shouted harshly.

"What?" George said, turning around only to meet Arnold's fist as it collided with his jaw.

Leila and Thorn screamed and Fred gasped before pushing Arnold away who looked like he was in a daze.

George clutched his jaw a second before returning the blow to Arnolds shoulder. Arnold was now committed to this fight he started and in such a daze couldn't pick out which twin he was mad at so then lunged at Fred. Fred shot his fist out in defense feeling cartilage crack and the sickly red liquid spill out from Arnold's nose. Leila was trying to pry Arnold off Fred who was pinned underneath him as Arnold tried to bruise any part he could while George was trying to push him off. Arnold roughly pushed Leila away who in her haste tripped over her flats falling down a step of her patio. She felt pain shoot up her leg as it hit the brick before her at a strange angle. She screamed biting her lip against the pain in her ankle.

Her piercing scream shocked the three boys, who were tangled on the patio, out of their fighting. Thorn rushed over to her friend to help her stand up only to have Leila scream in pain again. The door shot open as Leila's mother rushed out frantic.

"I heard screaming I-" She looked over to see the bruised and bleeding boys then heard her daughter's crying. With a look of panic Mrs. Monroe carefully walked to Leila's side as her father and a few other adults ran out.

"What happened!" Her father yelled staring at the scene in shocked horror as the other party goers began whispering and Arnold mother gasping at his dented nose and bruised cheek.

"Leila, honey, are you okay?" Mrs. Monroe whispered trying to turn Leila over who was whimpering and wincing as her mother touched her foot gently. Suddenly at the touch Leila cried out. "Oh dear, Jackson! I think it's broken! Can you check?" Mrs. Monroe looked around to the adults wishing they'd leave so she and her husband could take their daughter to the hospital.

Arnold stood up quickly pointing at the twins. "They attacked me!" He yelled, sniffling.

The twins glared, almost lunging at him, but he ran over to his mother in fright; the twins yelling insults at him as they ran down the Leila.

Leila mumbled something still softly crying.

"What was that?" Mrs. Monroe asked.

"Arnold hit George first, then Fred... And he pushed me. He started this...," Thorn said louder- but her level of loud- for the crowd to hear, now all staring at Arnold who was sputtering.

Arnold's mother was having none of it; she kept apologizing as she hauled him away from the crowd and out the door.

"Well, I'm sorry to say you all will have to leave so I can take Leila to the hospital," Mrs. Monroe said, glancing at her husband.

He nodded herding everyone out accepting their well wishes gracefully until they were all gone. Then he picked up his daughter, who let out another cry as he carried her into the house and onto the couch. Slowly she sat up wiping her tears away resting her foot wincing but sadly smiling. She looked up at the twins whose feelings were a mix of guilt and relief.

"I-I'm never inviting you to another party again," Leila said, smiling, hoping her comment was funny for the twins.

George chuckled squatting down next to her whispering. "And I'm never attending another one. Especially not one with Arnold. Merlin he's more annoying than Percy."

Leila laughed as her parents went into the kitchen to get the car keys and call the Fernsbys. Thirty minutes later a car pulling up could be heard outside letting know the other three kids had to leave. The twins and Thorn said their goodbyes; George lingering a bit longer.

"Um, George...thank you," Leila said, stopping George before he reached the door.

"For what? Breaking your leg?" George replied gloomily.

"You didn't do that. I mean, thank you for being my um fake boyfriend..." Leila blushed slightly, but giggled.

George reddened, but tried to hide it with a smirk. "Anytime. Merry Christmas, Leila."

"Merry Christmas, George," she whispered back, watching him leave.

ooOOoo

Thorn was exhausted when she arrived back at Hogwarts. She had stayed up later than usual the night before going to King's Cross Station. Seeing as Leila now had a broken leg she had to get on and off the train wearing a cast so Thorn helped her friend get onto the Hogsmeade platform and to up onto the carriages with no horse or any creature pulling it that took students up to Hogwarts. What was interesting was the looks most students gave Leila as she hobbled up the castle steps. Fred and George had asked multiple questions about the cast at the beginning of the train ride and Thorn and Leila had to explain to them that casts were a Muggles way of healing broken bones by keeping the person wearing it from moving the limb.

Going over to the Gryffindor table Thorn sat down exhausted. It was quiet at the table, but that didn't last long before she heard the loud laughing of the twins and Lee, who flanked her sides. She slammed her head on the table.

"Well that's one way to greet us," George said.

Thorn groaned as she lifted up her head. "I'm tired. I went to bed late last night and I slept in nearly missing the train."

"That explains why you were out of breath when you got to the compartment," Fred said.

"Oh hey," Lee said. "What's on Leila's leg? Is she okay?"

"She broke her leg over break. Long story," Thorn said, seeing Lee's questioning face. "She's wearing a cast. It's a muggle way to help heal broken bones."

"It looks uncomfortable. Why doesn't she just get Madame Pomfrey to heal it?"

"I don't know really. I never asked her."

For the rest of dinner Lee kept asking question after question about muggle healing. Thorn answered as best she could, but eventually got tired of answering- and tired in general. Once she got to the Gryffindor common room and greeted we friends she plopped down onto her bed where Willow was curled up on her pillow and jumped down when her owner laid down. She turned over an stared up at the top of the canopy of her bed. She yawned before slipping under the covers.

"It'a good to be back."

**I thought I'd have Arnold make another appearance and meet Fred and George and Thorn. I thought it was an interesting meet up don't you think? **

**I posted this quickly yet again because I am currently packing for my trip to Dayton, Ohio for WGI. I will be seeing winterguards from around the US and the world perform! I can't wait! **

**To any of guard girls out there and are going to WGI give me a shout out in a review and I'll give you (and your guard show) a shout out back in next chapter! I can't wait to see you if any of you are going! :D**


	12. Chapter 12

**Happy (belated) National Potter Day! I meant to post this yesterday, but I didn't finish the chapter before I left to see Iron Man 3 and I fell asleep before my sister was done with the computer. I hope you enjoy the chapter!**

Chapter 12

It had been a week since Christmas break ended and Leila was still hopping along on crutches with a broken leg. And she was still getting looks from students. It's surprising to her that wizards have never used or even heard of casts. The wizard world was so different from the real world- well the "muggle" world. It was honestly interesting and fascinating to her just like how wizards and witches find the muggle world fascinating.

Leila smiled to herself as she walked- well hopped- through the hall. Jacqueline and Thorn were on each side of her, helping her carry her bag and books. The three were heading to the Great Hall for lunch after having been in Charms for the past two hours.

Jacqueline groaned as she dropped her arms from the weight of Leila's books. "You are so lucky I am your best friend or else I wouldn't be carrying these for you. Why did you have to go and get crippled?"

"She can't help she's got a broken leg," Thorn said as she took one book from the red head to lessen the weight. "And I thought I was your best friend, Leila?"

"Um well uh...you both are," Leila said as she tried to hop closer to the two. "I don't really um have a specific best friend."

"She's just saying that so she won't hurt your feelings," Jacqueline teased Thorn with a wink making the Gryffindor chuckle.

Whatever you say, Jacqueline," she said. She followed the two Hufflepuffs to their table and set Leila's bag on the ground. "So, Leila, I've been wondering, why don't you just go to Madame Pomfrey and have her heal your leg. You wouldn't have to walk around in a cast if you did," Thorn said.

Leila smiled and sighed. "My dad's a doctor and prefers it that I wear a cast. He doesn't want me to have magic heal me. He thinks its not as natural as using a cast," she explained.

"Oh," Thorn said with a nod. "Well, I'll see you guys later," she said as she made her way to the Gryffindor table. Sitting down she slumped in her seat next to George. "I'm exhausted."

"What's up?" George asked with a grin.

Thorn looked at him for a second. "I just said I am exhausted."

"No need to be testy," Fred said, he and George holding their hands up in defense with grins on their face.

"How come Leila is still wearing that cast?" George asked, looking over at the Hufflepuff table where Leila was sitting with Cedric and Jacqueline. "She should go see Madame Pomfrey, she'd heal her in no time."

"That's what Jacqueline asked," Thorn said. "But Leila's dad is a doctor and she told us that he prefers that her leg heals naturally and not magically."

"Her dad's a doctor?" Fred said. "Hmm didn't know that."

"What about your dad, Thorn?" George asked. "What does he do?"

"Does he work at the Ministry?"

"Yep," Thorn smiled. "My dad works at the Department of International Magical Cooperation."

"Whoa really?" the twins said.

"That means your dad meets other wizards from around the world," George said, taking a bite of a sandwich.

"Yeah, but he says the worst part is having to worry about cauldron thickness. It's boring, but it keeps people safe," Thorn stated, taking a swig from her pumpkin juice. She set her cup down and grabbed a sandwich. "So what's the prank of the day?" she asked with a grin.

The twins grinned mischievously back at her. They leaned in closer to Thorn so that no one could hear them, mostly Percy seeing as he was a few people down from them.

"We figured out how to use the charm Professor Flitwick taught us today to make a sink spit water when you turn it on and we want to test it on the sinks in the bathrooms," Fred explained.

"And we also figured you could get into the girls' bathroom," George said matter-of-factly.

Thorn shook her head. "You guys don't want to be caught by Filch again, do you?"

"No we don't care if we get caught by Filch because we won't get caught," Fred said with a smug smile.

"We just need you to sneak into the girls' bathroom. After all you are a girl and can get in without causing a scene or getting thrown out," George said with a grin.

Thorn sighed and shook her head yet again. "Okay I'm in," she said with a smirk. "Sounds like a fun challenge."

"That's the spirit!" the twins said, giving their friend a thumbs up each.

ooOOoo

Thorn walked down the hall as she neared the girls' bathroom on the second floor. Pushing open the door, she quickly peaked in and- satisfied that there were no girls to see her- walked in. She grinned as she went up to a sink and waved her wand muttering the charm she learned in Charms. Once that was done she stared at the sink. She didn't know how to tell if the charm worked or not and she didn't want to test the sink just in case. But before she could do anything she heard the hinges on the door creak. Thorn rushed into a stall just as the girl walked in.

Hopping in was Leila.

_It had to be Leila._ Thorn thought as she watched Leila go to one of the sinks. The sink she charmed to be exact. "Leila, don't!" Thorn rushed out just as Leila turned on the sink.

She was too late. Water sprayed all over Leila's face and front. She was soaked. Water dripped from her hair and robes as she turned around to face Thorn. She had a shocked expression on her face whereas Thorn had an apologetic look on hers.

"Sorry," Thorn said.

"Wh-what just happened?" Leila asked.

"Um Fred and George asked me to help them jinx a sink in one of the girls' bathrooms to spit water at whoever turns the sink on," Thorn explained. "I didn't know you'd be coming into this bathroom. I'm sorry, Leila."

Leila bent down and began to wring the water out of her robes. "It's fine, Thorn. But um...can we go outside so I can um dry off?"

"Oh yeah sure," Thorn said and helped Leila out of the bathroom.

Once outside, the girls headed towards their usual spot, the large oak tree. Setting her's and Leila's bags down Thorn fell onto her back with her arms spread out on each side of her. She smiled as a light breeze blew across her face, making the light through the leaves dance over her. Leila slowly sat down, more in the sun than Thorn and pulled out a book from her bag. Thorn sat up on her elbows and watched as her friend opened the book to a random page.

"What book is that?" she asked, sitting fully up and tilting her head to read the cover of the book.

"_Thumbelina_," Leila answered with a smile.

"Oh you mean that fairy tale about the tiny girl who meets a fairy prince and such?" Thorn asked, scooting over to sit next to the blonde and read over her shoulder.

"Mhm. I love it."

Thorn smiled as Leila went back to reading. She tilted her head up as she soaked up the sun rays. She lowered her head when she heard someone call put Leila's name. Both girls looked up to see Drake walking over to them. He had his usual smirk on his face.

Leila closed her book and smiled up at him. "Hello, Drake," she said in her usual polite quiet voice.

"Hey, Drake," Thorn greeted with a wave.

"Hey," Drake greeted back with a smile before turning back to Leila. "I heard you are walking around with some giant thing on your leg. And I can see the rumors are true," he commented, taking notice of the cast on Leila's leg. "What is that?"

Leila blushed. Figures people would be talking about her cast, but at least it wasn't bad things. "I-it's um a cast..."

"A what?" he asked with a raised brow.

"It um helps heal broken bones for Muggles. My d-dad's a doctor and didn't want me to um have magic heal my leg," she explained.

Drake nodded. "Mind if I sit?" he asked.

Leila shook her head. Drake smiled as he sat down between the two girls. Thorn sat up to where she was upright again and noticed Drake watching Leila as she opened her book back up and began to read again. She smiled as she watched his face shift into a confused and yet intrigued expression.

T_ypical Ravenclaw. Always wanting to learn new things._ she thought. _He's probably pureblood, especially with the way he is looking at the book. And the fact that he hasn't heard of a cast. I bet he's gonna ask her what the book is._ She laughed to herself as she moved over to sit on Leila's other side.

"So what is this?" Drake asked, pointing to the book. "A muggle book?"

_Called it!_ she cheered to herself with a smirk.

"It's a fairy tale book," Leila began to explain. "It's like um Beedle and the Bard."

"So it's a collection of stories? Interesting... Mind reading one to me, beautiful?" he asked, a smirk growing on his face as he watched Leila blush.

"Um uh...s-s-sure...," Leila stuttered.

"Alright, what's the name of the story you'll be reading?" Drake asked.

"Th-Thumbe-"

"Oi! Thorn! Leila!"

The three looked up to see Fred and George running up to them with large smiles on their faces. However those disappeared once they saw who was with the girls. Their running slowed to a walk as they approached the three, giving Drake a glare.

"What's he doing here?" George asked, glaring at the Ravenclaw who glared back.

"I was allowed to sit here for your information," Drake said matter-of-factly. "As to why I am here it's because I wanted to see Leila. I wanted to know how she was doing. Got a problem with that Weasley?"

Fred glared. "Not really," he lied.

"Good," Drake said with a smug smirk.

Fred put a hand on George's shoulder knowing full well that if they kept arguing George would have jumped Drake. So instead he gently pushed him down to sit next to Thorn. Thorn smiled and waved at the twins, who returned the smile.

"So what are you guys doing?" Fred asked, noticing the book in Leila's lap.

"Leila was about to read us one of the fairy tales in her book," Thorn said with a grin.

"Is it that book she gave us for Christmas last year?" George asked.

Leila nodded with a smile. "Uh huh."

"So how about that story, beautiful?" Drake said with a smile.

Leila blushed and nodded as she started reading aloud. Fred and George glared at Drake as he smirked at the two. Thorn rolled her eyes, but listened to the story Leila was told. She remembered that her mom had read it to her along with many others when she was little. This one was one of her favorites. She sat peacefully letting the cool breeze blow around her and listened to the childhood story.

However, the peace and quiet ended after twenty minutes and two stories. That was when a group of Slytherins came walking up snickering and sneering at the group. In the lead of the group was none other than Marcus Flint.

"Looks like Gryffindors do expand from just themselves. They have a Hufflepuff _and_ a Ravenclaw friend," Marcus sneered. "Good thing they have a Ravenclaw for a friend. They could use the extra brains. Although I question if they have any in the first place."

The other three Slytherin laughed. Leila blushed and hid her face while the other four glared at them.

"I think they have it wrong, Georgie," Fred said. "I think they're the ones who need the extra brains."

George nodded. "You're right, Freddie. But I didn't realize Slytherins had brains."

Thorn laughed as the Slytherins glared daggers at the twins. She smirked up at the group. "Why do you want Marcus? Did you come over here to ask for help on your Potions essay? I think I overheard some Slytherin girls saying that they were hoping to help you. Why they would want to help you even if you're in the same house is beyond me."

Marcus whipped his head in the brunette's direction. "Keep your mouth shut half blood."

Thorn scoffed. "Nice come back."

"So," Flint began. "Is it true that your Hufflepuff friend has been hobbling through the halls with some odd device on her leg?"

"She has a name, Flint," Drake said, standing up so that he was in his face.

Flint rolled his eyes. "So is it true?" he asked, disregarding Drake's comment.

One of his Slytherin friends nudged him in the arm and pointed to Leila's leg. "Check it out. She does have it."

Marcus looked over at Leila and saw the cast on her leg. He raised an eyebrow. "What the bloody hell is that thing? Some weird muggle fashion?"

"It's a cast," George said now standing up, along with Fred. "It helps heal broken bones."

"I-I-it's what muggles use. My um d-dad is a doctor and-and didn't want me t-to use magic to heal my leg," Leila said turning bright red.

"Whatever," Flint said. "It doesn't make you any less weird mudblood."

Leila had no idea what Marcus had just called her, but in a split second multiple things happened. Thorn gasped, Drake looked beyond furious, and the twins lunged for Marcus, only Thorn and Drake grabbed them before they could make a hit. Leila looked from each person frantically. What had just happened?

"How _dare_ you call her that!" Thorn shouted as she tried to hold back a struggling George.

"Take it back snake!" Fred yelled as Drake held him back as he tried swinging at the grinning Slytherin.

"Calm down you two!" Drake ordered. "Fighting them won't solve anything. Even if they do deserve it," he snapped, directing the last part towards Marcus.

"Fine," George said, he and Fred calming down after a moment more of struggling. "It's not worth punching you in the face."

"No," Thorn said, pulling out her wand. She began to advance on Marcus, pointing it at his face. "But if you _ever_ call Leila a mudblood again, I _will_ hex you until you can't see straight!"

Marcus held his hands up as he leaned away from the Gryffindor's wand, only Thorn kept advancing on him the more he stepped away. There was a murderous glint in her eyes that usually wasn't there.

"Got it!" she screamed.

Marcus slowly nodded. Thorn didn't lower her wand though. Leila tried to stand and eventually stood with the help of Drake. She looked scared as she approached her friend.

"Thorn, please stop," she said worried.

Marcus and his goonies started walking away. But not before Marcus turned around and shouted tauntingly, "Better listen to your mudblood friend Gryffindor!"

In half a second Thorn raised her wand again and shouted "Obscuro" and Flint had a blindfold over his eyes and was falling on the ground. Several students who were walking by started laughing as Marcus tried to stand up and walk only to fall back on his face when he tripped over a rock. Eventually he ripped the blindfold off, glared at Thorn and ran back to the castle before she could do any more damage to him.

Thorn lowered her arm; turning to face the others with folded arms and a smirk on her face she said, "I warned him he wouldn't see straight. He's lucky that's all I did to him."

"That was bloody brilliant," Fred said with a large grin; George nodding beside him.

"Um excuse me...," Leila spoke up in a whisper. "Wh-what did he do?"

"What do you mean?" George said in anger just thinking about the Slytherin. "He called you a mudblood!"

"Is...is that bad?" she asked, looking at each of her friends.

"Leila, a mudblood is the worst thing to call someone," Thorn said with detest. "Someone who's a muggleborn. Mudblood means dirty blood. For Slytherins the only people they like, well approve of, are purebloods. Halfbloods, like me, are second, but still not good in their eyes. We're basically a step up from muggleborns, but still not good enough in their eyes."

"What Thorn's saying is," Fred said. "Muggleborns are the worst kind of wizard. Then there's also blood traitors. Purebloods who didn't follow You-Know-Who. Muggleborns were who You-Know-Who went after when he was still alive."

"You don't want to be called a mudblood, Leila," Drake said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "It's an insult."

Leila looked down. "Oh."

It was silent for a moment before Drake smiled and spoke up. "So Leila, do you think I could borrow some of your story books?" he asked.

"Um sure," she said. "I-I have another one in my dormitory. Would you like that one as well?" she queried.

"Sure, beautiful. How about I walk you there?" he said as he helped gather up Leila's bag and crutches.

Leila said her goodbyes before hopping down the field with Drake. Thorn waved at the two before sitting back down against the tree. The twins on the other hand glared at Drake, who turned around with yet another smug smirk on his face. George's glare grew.

"I hate that guy."

**I am so sorry for the late update. I have been so busy with finishing up my last few weeks of school. Also I have been working on preparing for Alabama colorguard auditions, which was last Saturday. Sadly I didn't make it. But I'll try again next year.**

**Anyways, I hope you lurked the chapter. I really wanted to bring in Marcus Flint and I had this idea where Thorn threatens him with a hex for a long time and this was the perfect moment. Not only was I able to bring him in, but we got a glimpse of Thorn's protective/defensive side to her.**

**With the whole Obscuro spell. I tried looking up what year that students at Hogwarts learn that spell, but couldn't find anything so if that's an advanced spell I didn't know and I was no way trying to make Thorn amazing with spells or be a Mary Sue.**

**Also I am doing an rp with HP characters like Fred, George, Cedric, etc and my OCs on my tumblr account a-thorn-in-my-side. So if you'd like to try it out just send me a question :) Oh and I'm on polyvore if you'd like to check out my stuff.**

**I hope you all liked it and I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. Leave a review :)**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"This is so boring," Fred groaned as he placed his head on the table.

It was Defense Against the Dark Arts for Gryffindors and Slytherins and it was a not so eventful day. For starters, Professor Quirrel was stuttering as usual as he was teaching the students about unicorns. And to top it off, it was pouring rain outside.

"I don't think my brain can handle this lecture," George said, leaning his cheek against his hand. "Or the stuttering for that matter.

"You have a brain?" Thorn said with a grin, receiving a glare from George.

Fred snickered. "So any plans for the summer, Thorn?"

Thorn shook her head. "Nope. Just going to be staying home." She bent her head over her parchment as she quickly wrote down information Professor Quirrel said.

"Perfect!" the twins said.

Thorn looked up at them to see identical grins on their freckled faces. She sighed. Whenever the twins grinned like that it was either because of a successful prank or they had a plan forming in their heads. "What are you two planning?"

"Who us?" Fred said, putting a hand over his heart. "You say that like we are planning on torching your books or something."

"I know you two. Those grins are usually on your face when there's a prank involved," Thorn explained. "Now what are planning?"

"We were thinking of having you and Leila over this summer," George said.

"What do you think?" Fred asked.

Thorn grinned. "Sounds great! I'd love to!"

"Great!" the twins said.

"Now, can I go back to taking notes?" Thorn asked, gesturing to her parchment with a raised eyebrow.

The twins rolled their eyes, muttering something about Thorn never usually studying, but- with reluctancy- turned their attention back to the stuttering professor.

ooOOoo

"I can't stand Snape!" George practically yelled as the three Gryffindors walked down the hall.

They had just finished Potions and today was the day that Snape decided to take points away from majority of the Gryffindors. He had taken five points from Lee for doing incorrect instructions, five points from Thorn and Angelina for their potion being the wrong color, and finally ten points each from the twins for back talking Snape when he took the five points from the three. Sure there were other Gryffindors who got points taken away, but no one messes with the Weasley twins' friends.

"It was your fault for talking back to him," Thorn said.

"Hey, he was being a git taking Gryffindor's points away for no reason," George defended.

"He took points away from you two for a good reason," Thorn said. "But yeah he is a git for taking away points just for a bad potion and what not."

"See!" the twins said.

Thorn laughed as she rolled her eyes. She looked ahead to see one of the many sets of moving stair cases move to where they were. Perfect timing. The three walked down the stairs, Thorn waving at a painting of horsemen and Fred and George talking amongst themselves behind her. The trio were heading to the Great Hall for lunch. It was a Friday which meant that tomorrow is Saturday; the three Gryffindors were planning on spending their weekend relaxing and pranking. The twins had told Thorn about the ideas they were discussing in Charms earlier in the day and they wanted to put them into action once the weekend started.

Once Thorn and the twins reached the Great Hall they headed for the Gryffindor table and found their group of friends, excluding Angelina and Lee, who went to the library after Potions.

"Hey, Katie," Fred said once he sat down next to George and Alicia. "Are you going to audition next year for Quidditch?"

"Yeah, didn't you say you were interested in it?" Thorn asked, grabbing a sandwich from a platter in front of here.

"Yep," Katie said with a smile. "After seeing the first game and watching you guys play I wanted to join."

"Go for it!" George cheered. "Just beware of Oliver Wood."

"Oliver?" Katie questioned. "You mean the boy down there by your brother?" she asked inclining her head towards the other red headed Gryffindor at the other end of the table. Oliver looked to be like he was talking Charlie's ear off, but Charlie didn't seem fazed or annoyed one bit. He smiled and talked animatedly with the younger Gryffindor. Most likely about Quidditch, knowing Oliver's obsession with the sport.

"Yep, that's him," Angelina said, coming into the conversation as she and Lee walked up to the group. "He's kind of obsessed with Quidditch if you haven't noticed by now."

Katie laughed. "I kinda saw it after the first game when he kept on talking and talking...and talking about it."

The group laughed at the memory of the Quidditch prodigy after the first game of the year. But as the laughing settled down to a lingering chuckle, the twins' smiling faces turned into glares. Down the aisle of tables and coming through the entrance was Drake Connor. However, he wasn't alone. Leila was smiling kindly as he was telling her something. In his hands was Leila's books and bag as she hopped along on her crutches. He led her to Hufflepuff table and towards Cedric, who didn't look up from his plate of food, and Jacqueline, who smiled brightly at him. Drake set Leila's books and bag down behind her and took her crutches as she sat down. Leila smiled at him before he turned to head to the Ravenclaw table and she turned to her two friends.

Thorn rolled her eyes at the twins' glaring. "Can you get over yourselves?" she asked, bringing their attention from the Ravenclaw table and back to her. "So what? Leila's hanging out with Drake. She's entitled to having her own friends."

"But it's just," George began, "why him?"

"I'm sensing a little bit of jealousy," Alicia said in a sing song voice, giggling at the end.

"I am not jealous!" George snapped.

"Calm down, George," Alicia said, holding her hands up. "I was only joking."

"Sorry...," George mumbled, lowering his head a little.

Thorn and Angelina shared a look as Lee, Alicia, and Katie started talking with each other and Fred and George talked amongst themselves. They were whispering between each other before they got up. They quickly said goodbye and left the Great Hall. Thorn stared after them puzzled. She looked at the others and saw the same puzzled look that she had. She turned to Lee, who only shrugged, just as clueless about the twins' sudden leave. Thorn looked back at the entrance one last time before turning back to her friends, who had started up a new conversation.

ooOOoo

Fred and George sat in the second year boys' dormitory, silent as they sat on their beds. George stared out the window across from his bed, the sun shining and clouds rolling through the sky. Fred was the first to break the silence.

"So, you are jealous," he said. It was more of a statement than a question.

"I told you, I'm not jealous," George said calmly with sigh. "I'm just annoyed that Leila's hanging with Connors."

Fred shook his head and laughed. "Georgie, you're jealous. Admit it, you've been acting differently around Leila since after you and her kissed during her Christmas party."

George didn't say anything which Fred took that as a cue to continue.

"Every time you see her you smile a bit brighter," Fred smirked as George's face turned slightly pink. "You have a crush on Leila, George. Admit it."

George sighed before turning to his brother "Fine, I may have a slight crush on her. Happy?"

"Very," Fred grinned. "So..." he began smirking at his twin.

"So what?" George asked, quirking an eyebrow at Fred, who smirked at him mischievously.

"You're jealous."

George groaned and threw a pillow at Fred as he fell backwards on his bed laughing.

ooOOoo

"Thorn?" Leila said, a little cautiously.

"Hmm?" Thorn asked looking over at her friend.

"Why did Fred and George leave during lunch?" Leila asked "Are they okay?" There was a concerned look on her face as she waited for Thorn's answer.

"Honestly," Thorn said. "I have no idea. One minute we were laughing next minute Fred and George were glaring at Drake just because he was walking in with you."

"Why?"

"They're dumb. Remember they said they didn't like him so they're obviously a little annoyed that you're hanging out with him."

Leila nodded, still concerned, as she turned to look up at the clouds. Thorn and Leila were sitting under the tree that Thorn had declared was "their tree". It was after lunch, which meant there was a real before classes started back up. Leila looked up and down the lawn seeing students meeting up with friends from other houses or walking through the lawn to get to the courtyard or to their common rooms. She waved at a few Hufflepuffs, who passed by and waved at the two girls. Leila grabbed her bag and pulled out her fairy tale book, although Thorn noticed it was a new one.

"Which one's that?" she asked.

"Hans Christian Anderson," Leila replied.

"Isn't he the one who wrote The Snow Queen?" Thorn asked as she peered over her friend's shoulder.

"Yes," Leila replied.

"Then I have this book too," Thorn said with a smile. "Well, my mom has it. It's in our library in my mom's study."

Leila smiled as she moved the book a bit more toward Thorn so that the two could read together. Currently Leila had it on the story The Emperor's New Clothes having just reading The Snow Queen under Thorn's request. Just as Leila turned a page Thorn spoke up with an "Oh."

"I just remembered. Earlier the twins had asked if I wanted to go to their house over the summer for a week and were planning on inviting you. I don't know if they've asked you yet, but I thought I'd let you know," she said smiling.

Leila's face lit up at the thought. "That'd be so much fun!" she exclaimed. "I hope they as-"

"Leila!"

Thorn and Leila looked up to see Drake walking up to them, the usual number of books in his hand and a small smile on his face. The girls waved and greeted him when he reached them.

"H-hello, Drake," Leila greeted, her timid-self breaking out as always.

"Hello, Leila," he greeted in return. "I wanted to say that with the year ending in a few months if you'd like to owl each other over the summer?" He had a smile on his face along with an earnest look in his eyes.

"S-sure, th-that would be nice," she answered.

"Great," Drake said with a grin. "I gotta go catch up with some friends in the Ravenclaw common room before classes begin. See you around, beautiful." He waved a quick wave before going down the lawns. On his way he passed the Weasley twins, who gave him a quick glare before going their own ways.

The twins walked up to the tree and smiled down at the girls as the continued on reading. "Hello, ladies," they chorused.

"Hi, boys," Thorn greeted.

"He-hello," Leila said with a small smile.

"So, Leila," Fred began.

"We were wondering," George said.

"That over the summer."

"If you'd like to stay at our house for a week?"

Thorn leaned over and whispered in Leila's ear. "Told you." She laughed.

Leila smiled at the twins. "I-I'd love too. Thank you."

"Awesome," George said with a grin. "Now that that's done lets head to Charms before we're late."

"Agreed," Thorn said as she and Leila got up.

The four walked up the lawn to the castle talking about their day so far. The twins told Leila about their horrible day in Potions and how Snape was being a git. The whole time they talked George had a slight grin on his face and Fred could only smirk at his brother.

**I am so sorry this took so long to post. I had a slight writers block and nothing motivated me to write this chapter because I had no idea what I wanted to write. Along with that I was so busy enjoying my last few days of high school and graduation and hanging with friends for a while and looking for a job that I could not find time- and motivation as I said -to write this. (And now my iTouch's screen is cracked and it's annoying!) But now it's done phew. **

**Anyways here's chapter thirteen. I hope you liked it. Leave a review and tell me what you think. I'm not entirely sure this was a good chapter so I'd enjoy some feedback :)**

**Yes I referenced the Snow Queen, but that because I'm excited for the new Disney movie Frozen, which I heard, the trailer will be out in a few days. Yay!**

**Also I'm planning on doing a sort of rp thing on my tumblr where you can ask the characters any questions you'd like to know about them. It will include my OCs and the characters from the book, including the golden trio! Just go to a-thorn-n-my-side .tumblr. Or if you feel like talking leave me a message on there or on me here. I am here to listen to anyone who wants to vent, rant, or just "have a right chat with your neighbor" ;)**

**I also have a polyvore with all my HP and Disney outfits if you'd like to check those out. I'm using that to help a tad with my major. I'm planning on doing fashion merchandise and that website is just a blast on there.**

**Sorry for my rambling and I hope you enjoyed the chapter :)**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

The card burst into flames with a crackle, singing the carpet and Willow hissing at it. Thorn groaned and placed her cheek in the palm of her hand as George high fived Fred. The three were in the Gryffidor common room playing Exploding Snaps, Thorn losing and practically burning her fingers off. She was never one for the card game, even when her dad and she would play. The twins seemed to be pros at the game.

"Can't we play a different game?" Thorn practically whined when George started up another game. "How about we pull out Alicia's wizard chess?"

"You're just sore because we keep beating you," Fred teased.

"No, I'm sore because my fingers are nearly getting torched off!" Thorn exclaimed exasperated.

"Excuses," George said with a grin.

Thorn rolled her eyes and got up to take a seat next to Katie on one of the couches giving the twins the chance to play each other. She slouched a little and let her head rest on the back of the couch just as Willow sauntered up and jumped on her lap. Thorn scratched behind the brown tabby's ears resulting in the kitten purring contently. As Katie read, Thorn stared at the empty fireplace seeing as no fires would be lit anytime soon since it was summer and it was already warm enough without an added roaring fire. She thought about the upcoming final exams that she would have to take as the year was approaching its end. She smiled knowing that another year at Hogwarts was coming to an end, but another one would be starting before she knew it. And it was her third year, which meant Hogsmeade trips! She sighed, thinking of all the shops she, Leila, and the twins would go to that she had heard from her dad and from the twins, who heard it from their older brothers Bill, Charlie, and Percy.

"Percy doesn't really care much for them," George had told her one day when the topic came up during dinner. She had laughed at the eye rolls both twins did when they talked about Percy and Hogsmeade.

"A waste of a permission slip if you ask me," Fred said with a sour look as he explained that Percy probably went only one or two out of the few trips the third years and up got per year.

Thorn's mind also ventured to the plans for the summer. She was excited to spend a week with the Weasleys. She had sent an owl to her dad about it and got the okay.

"I don't see why not," she had read in his response letter.

There were so many things she, Leila, and the twins could do. One being pranks of course. Then there was the possible play time with Ginny, knowing the young girl looked up to her and Leila, having been told by the twins. There was also the delicious food that Mrs. Weasley would be feeding them. Thorn's mouth practically watered at the thought. No, it was no match for her own mum's cooking, but it was close.

"Thorn? Thorn!"

Thorn snapped out of her thoughts to see Katie staring at her. "Sorry, what?" she asked the blonde.

"I asked how you feel about the fact that Slytherin is most likely going to win the house cup this year." Katie restated her unheard question.

Thorn groaned. "It's only because Snape gave the Slytherins points for nothing and took away other houses' points."

"You talking about the house cup?" Fred asked, him and George looking over to the girls, who nodded.

"It's rubbish," George scoffed. "It's only because of Snape."

"That's what Thorn said," Katie said with a laugh as she turned the page in her book.

"They even won the Quidditch cup," the twins said irritated.

"Only through cheating," Fred said.

"Not quite cheating, but tons of dirty playing," Thorn said.

"Yep," Katie said, flipping another page in her book.

It was silent between the four for a while; the only sounds coming from Katie turning pages, the sizzling of the cards from Fred and George, and Thorn's occasional sigh. Then there was the sound of Thorn's stomach growling and the other three turned to look at her.

"What?" Thorn said. "I'm hungry."

"Then let's get some food in your belly," George said, standing up with Fred.

ooOOoo

"I'm just saying it's a load if rubbish," Lee said through a mouth full of turkey. "If Slytherin's gonna," he swallowed, "win then Dumbledore's gonna need to get rid of Snape."

"I think everyone can agree on that," Alicia said.

Thorn and the twins had headed to the Great Hall leaving Katie to read after she had said she ate earlier. When they got to the Gryffindor table they found Lee, Angelina, and Alicia already there and talking about the same subject they had just been discussing in the common room ironically.

"I'm kinda getting tired of this topic," Angelina said, drinking from her cup of water. "They're going to win let's just deal with it. We've got next year and the rest of our years here."

"Angelina's got a point," Thorn said. "We've got more years and being mad about it will only make the Slytherins taunt us more."

"Are you guys talking about Slytherin winning the house cup?" Jacqueline asked as she squeezed herself between Fred and Lee. Leila found a spot between Thorn and George, placing her crutches behind her with the help from George, while Cedric found a spot next to Angelina. "I find it a waste of a house cup. Sure they got the most points, but that's only thanks to Snape and his hatred to everyone who isn't Slytherin."

"That's pretty much true," Cedric sighed. "Hufflepuff may have stood a chance if it wasn't for Snape taking too many points away."

Leila nodded slightly, hardly listening in as she scribbled her quill in her notebook. It was propped up against her good leg, which was pulled up onto her seat, to the point where she was hunched over it. George noticed and peered over her shoulder, trying to catch a glimpse of what she was doing. All he could see was her quill moving slowly and carefully and what looked to be a garden on a page.

George raised an eyebrow before asking Leila, "What are you doing?"

Leila jumped and looked at him with wide eyes and blush red cheeks. "Uh um I...uh..." She couldn't make a coherent sentence. She was looking between her notebook and George with worried eyes. "I...I'm d-d-drawing," she squeaked.

"You draw?" George asked, eyes lighting up at the new discovery of his friend. "Can I see?"

"I um...I..."

Thorn looked over Leila's shoulder, having heard her and George's small conversation. "Oh that's so pretty, Leila!" she exclaimed.

Leila looked at Thorn, her face growing redder. "Um uh..."

"Wow! That's great, Leila!" George said with a grin, finally getting a good view of the drawing. "I didn't know you could draw."

Jacqueline's head turned away from Fred, who was currently talking across from her, and to her fellow Hufflepuff friend. "What?" she said shocked. "Leila, you draw? How come you haven't told me-or better yet, shown me?"

"I...I...I...," Leila said, looking around at all the eyes looking at her. Her face was turning red and her breathing picked up. She hated being the center of attention, that's why she always stood behind or off to the side of Thorn and the twins when they were anywhere near a crowd. Even when she talked with Drake she always blushed and shied away from topics to do with her or compliments towards her and Drake would smile and laugh about it. She squeaked as she looked at everyone staring at her, hoping to see her sketch book and hid her head behind said book.

"Sorry, Leila," Cedric said, realizing how uncomfortable the blonde became and started up a new conversation with the others.

George looked at Leila with concern as she still hid behind her book and leaned closer to her. "I think you're a great artist," he whispered, smiling when he saw her peek one eye over her book and red covering her face.

"Th-thank you," she whispered in return.

ooOOoo

"That was the worst class to date!" Jacqueline whined as she, Cedric, Leila, Thorn, and the twins walked out of History of Magic. "Someone needs to tell Professor Binns that he's dead so that we can get a new teacher!"

"I don't know, I think he'd still teach even if he knew," Fred said, slinging his bag over his shoulder. "Dead or alive, I don't think you could make History of Magic any less boring."

"Mhm," Thorn agreed with a sigh.

"So, where to next?" Jacqueline asked, linking arms with Cedric and Fred as the group continued to walk down the hall.

"I don't know about you, but I'm going to bed," Thorn said. "I am tired!"

"I hear that," Jacqueline said, high fiving Thorn.

"That sounds good to me too?" George asked, walking next to Leila as the two discussed the Potions lesson from today.

"I'm going to head to bed as well," Cedric said. "Good night guys," he said as he and Jacqueline headed towards the Hufflepuff common room.

"Goodnight, Leila," Thorn said, waving goodnight to the blonde as she headed up the stairs with the twins.

"Goodnight," Leila said with a smile. She waved goodnight as she saw George waved goodnight to her before disappearing with his brother and the brunette Gryffindor. Leila turned around and quickly ran to catch up with Cedric and Jacqueline. The three said their good nights to each other in the common room as they went to their separate dormitories ending the tiresome day.

**I am really sorry for the wait. Summer has been busy with quite a lot of things from babysitting to hanging out with friends. I am also really really sorry for this chapter. I know its short, but right now I'm currently in a writer's block and this was all that came to mind for the chapter. I wanted to continue with everyone going to the Gryffindor common room, but a conversation for the group could not come to mind. I am terribly sorry. But I am kind of happy with how it came out (even though it's majorly short!). I wanted to give you guys a little bit of a look at what Leila likes to do which as you can see is drawing. I plan on using that later on in the story. It won't be anything big, but it will be cute (hopefully). **

**Check out my tumblr if you want a bunch of Harry Potter stuff on your dash haha ;) Also check out my polyvore: a-thorn-in-my-side. It has some outfits for Thorn and Leila, but if you like Disney I have Disney inspired outfits that you might enjoy. I have a deviantart where I plan to post pictures for the story and some of my other stories hopefully. And I just made an etsy account so look me up under MelissaLynns. **

**I can't guarantee when chapter fifteen will be up because as of today, this is my last week of summer and on Friday I am moving into my dorm and starting my first year of college. Super excited, super nervous, and really sad. It's a new experience for me, but I keep hearing that college will be great. For any of you who are going off to college soon I wish you the best of luck!**

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I hope to hear your thoughts on it :D Please only critiquing, no flaming. It's not really in the spirit of writing. Thank you and I hope to hear from all of my lovely readers!**


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